Downtrend continues on Bursa Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw continued selling pressure on Wednesday as investors searched for positive leads while some waited for the gross domestic product (GDP) data.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI ended down 5.63 points, or 0.38% at 1,470.75 dragged down by losses in banking counters. The index had earlier dipped to its intraday low of 1,469.01.

Sellers led buyers by 566 to 370, while 404 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 3.94 billion shares, valued at RM2.51bil.

Laggards among the KLCI component stocks were Hong Leong Financial Group (HLFG), CIMB, Hong Leong Bank (HL Bank) and RHB Bank.

HLFG shed 38 sen to RM17.92, CIMB fell 18 sen to RM5.40, HL Bank eased 18 sen to RM20 and RHB declined 15 sen to RM5.51.

PETRONAS Dagangan rose 14 sen to RM22.20, MISC gained 13 sen to RM7.37, Tenaga added 12 sen to RM9.51 and PETRONAS Chemicals advanced 10 sen to RM8.25.

On the broader market, Rapid fell 36 sen to RM16.10, Genting Plantations lost 12 sen to RM6.03, F&N gained 46 sen to RM26.46 and Hextar Technologies rose 38 sen to RM28.58.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.2985, up 0.1% against the US dollar.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.29%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 3.69%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.49% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 0.07%.