KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped its three-day winning streak to end in the red yesterday, dragged by profit-taking in selected heavyweight counters, particularly banking stocks.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI dropped 10.12 points, or 0.68%, to 1,487.84 from Monday’s close of 1,497.96.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.56 points lower at 1,497.40, moved between 1,482.38 and 1,497.88 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 449 to 351, while 449 counters were unchanged, 1,092 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total turnover was marginally higher at 2.64 billion units worth RM1.74bil from 2.63 billion units worth RM1.55bil on Monday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said yesterday’s selldown provides more upsides for investors, given the undervalued FBM KLCI.
“As such, we expect the benchmark index to trend higher for the remainder of the week, hovering within the 1,480-1,510 region, with immediate support at 1,480 and resistance at 1,500,” he said.
Key regional indices closed mostly higher, buoyed by optimism ahead of the release of the US inflation reading which is expected to have improved in August, he said.
“Nonetheless, gains were limited as investors are cautious on the slowdown in China’s economic activity due to the recent Covid-19-related restrictions,” said Thong.
Meanwhile, Bursa heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd
fell seven sen to RM8.92, Public Bank Bhd reduced 10 sen to RM4.52, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd shed 18 sen to RM8.71, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd slid two sen to RM5.45 and IHH Healthcare Bhd trimmed one sen to RM6.20.
Of the actives, both Metronic Global Bhd and CSH Alliance Bhd eased half-a-sen to 2.5 sen and four sen, respectively, while Aimflex Bhd improved 2.5 sen to 15.5 sen, Velesto Energy Bhd gained 1.5 sen to 11.5 sen and MyEG Services Bhd advanced two sen to 87.5 sen.
Meanwhile, the ringgit extended its downtrend against the US dollar amidst concerns about rising inflation and uncertainties surrounding emerging market (EM) economies, said an analyst.
At 6pm yesterday, the local currency fell to 4.5070/5085 against the greenback from 4.5010/5045 at Monday’s close.
ActivTrades’ market analyst Alexander Londono said inflation fears had lifted the safe-haven greenback against EM currencies like the ringgit.
“However, later today (yesterday) we’ll have the consumer price index (CPI) data from the United States and if the reading comes out better than expected, the ringgit-US dollar may find some support and retrace to the upside.
“The direction of the currency pair for the rest of the week would also depend on CPI data from Europe, not only from the US,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local unit dipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.2320/2333 from Monday’s close of 3.2263/2286 and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.1690/1703 from 3.1596/1615 yesterday.
It fell against the British pound at 5.2768/2786 from 5.2658/2687 and eased against the euro to 4.5818/5833 from 4.5638/5663 previously. — Bernama
