FBM KLCI slide 0.9%, broad selling across Bursa Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the day in red, dampened by across-the-board selling, in line with the weak regional performance.

The benchmark index closed down 14.18 points, or 0.9% at 1,555.33. For the week, the index added 12.22 points.

Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 828-to-204 stocks. Activities were encouraging with 3.6 billion shares worth RM2.95bil changed hands.

Dealers said interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve frayed investor nerves and the lack of fresh leads kept investors at bay.

The KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the negative, with 23 losers and five gainers.

Petronas Dagangan tumbled 52 sen to RM19.20, Petronas Gas shed 26 sen to RM16.90, Inari fell 18 sen to RM3.38 and Press Metal lost 15 sen to RM6.05.

Hong Leong Financial Group added 20 sen to RM18.76, Sime Darby Plantation gained three sen to RM4.07, Telekom Malaysia rose two sen to RM5.35, PPB added two sen to RM16.82 and Genting Malaysia climbed one sen to RM2.91.

On the broader market, MPI tumbled RM5.84 to RM40.96, ViTrox lost RM1.42 to RM17 and Sam Engineering shed RM1.10 to RM20.78.

Among the actives, AirAsia fell 12.5 sen to 62 sen, SMTrack closed unchanged at 29 sen and Dagang Nexchange fell 1.5 sen to 84 sen.

On the external front, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 1.28% lower at 28,124.28 while South Korea’s Kospi index closed down 1.36%, at 2,921.92.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.19% to 24,383.32.

China’s CSI300 index fell 0.8%, to 4,726.73, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1% to 3,521.26 points.