Rakuten's Thong the local bourse’s performance was in line with the regional markets, following negative cues from Wall Street overnight.
PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday for the second consecutive day as selling pressure persisted, mainly in telecommunications and commodity-related stocks, amid a mixed regional performance.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI fell 4.01 points, or 0.29%, to 1,374.64 from 1,378.65 at Wednesday’s close.
The key index opened 2.86 points lower at 1,375.79 yesterday morning and moved between 1,369.41 and 1,376.62 throughout the session.
The market breadth was negative as decliners led gainers by 487 to 300, while 433 counters were unchanged, 1,023 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover shrank to 2.68 billion units worth RM1.61bil versus 3.12 billion units worth RM1.73bil on Wednesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse’s performance was in line with the mostly lower regional market performance, following negative cues from Wall Street overnight.
“As for the local bourse, we believe the short-term sentiment will continue to be volatile, influenced by a range of internal and external factors.
“Nonetheless, there is a possibility of bargain-hunting as the benchmark index remains in oversold territory,” he told Bernama. He is anticipating the FBM KLCI would trend sideways in the region of 1,373 to 1,385 towards the weekend.
