BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS LOWER ON LACK OF BUYING CATALYSTS

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index ended the day broadly lower, driven primarily by selling in construction and banking sectors, while healthcare stocks saw some buying interest, an analyst said.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished in the red due to a lack of buying catalysts.

He noted that key regional indices settled mixed as investor sentiment was influenced by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

At 5 pm, the FBM KLCI weakened by 10.15 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 1,517.66 from Monday’s close of 1,527.81. 

The benchmark index opened 14.52 points lower at 1,513.29 and moved between 1,512.21 and 1,523.39 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 449 to 428, while 481 counters were unchanged, 1,078 untraded, and seven suspended.

Turnover fell to 2.92 billion units worth RM2.73 billion from 3.28 billion units worth RM2.40 billion on Monday.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday for the Nuzul Al-Quran public holiday.

Meanwhile, Thong said the market stayed alert to potential tariff escalations as Donald Trump reiterated his threats of reciprocal trade measures set for early April, alongside ongoing talks for a US-mediated peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

At home, the benchmark index was unable to maintain the 1,520 level, with the next support level expected at 1,500.

“As the market pulls back, many fundamentally strong stocks are trading at discounted prices, encouraging bargain hunting by value investors, and we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend between 1,500 and 1,530 for the remainder of the week,” he told Bernama.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said the decline on Wall Street on Tuesday was largely driven by investor caution ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, as market participants awaited its outcome.

“However, compared to last week, market sentiment has shown signs of stabilisation, with fears gradually easing,” he said, adding that the commodities and utilities stocks were among the gainers in today’s trading.

Mohd Sedek said beyond the broader risk-off sentiment ahead of the FOMC meeting, market movements were also influenced by yesterday’s decline in Indonesian equities and the rupiah’s slide to a two-week low against the US dollar.

“Indonesia’s stock market weakened due to a nearly 30 per cent drop in government revenues in January, raising concerns over fiscal strategy and economic growth which had a spillover effect on Malaysian stocks with business exposure to Indonesia, especially financial ones.

“Apart from the Federal Reserve meeting, today also saw the Bank of Japan keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.50 per cent, in line with economists’ expectations,” he said.

Mohd Sedek said while the FOMC is expected to maintain interest rates, the key focus will be on the dot plot, which will guide future policy decisions.

Heavyweights, Maybank fell six sen to RM10.36, and CIMB slipped 32 sen to RM6.93. Public Bank and Tenaga were flat at RM4.54 and RM13.56 respectively, while IHH Healthcare was one sen higher at RM7.10.

As for the active stocks, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, Pertama Digital added six sen to 17 sen, Sedania gained 3.5 sen to 12.5 sen, and NationGate improved two sen to RM1.37.

However, IJM Corporation lost 19 sen, falling to RM1.93.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 60.42 points to 11,364.06, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 66.10 points to 11,121.69, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 25.21 points to 11,058.79.

The FBM 70 Index decreased 63.54 points to 16,260.21 but the FBM ACE Index picked up 20.34 points to 4,711.49.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 183.70 points to 18,612.44, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.29 of-a-point to 154.77, the Energy Index gained 5.03 points to 740.39, and the Plantation Index climbed 21.12 points to 7,437.37.

The Main Market volume edged up to 1.48 billion units worth RM2.46 billion against 1.47 billion units worth RM2.11 billion on Monday.

Warrant turnover was trimmed to 1.11 billion units worth RM165.83 million versus 1.38 billion units worth RM144.06 million previously. 

The ACE Market volume reduced to 318.77 million units valued at RM101.24 million from 421.86 million units valued at RM145.16 million on Monday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 267.55 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (191.76 million), construction (163.37 million), technology (136.97 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (145.18 million), property (97.37 million), plantation (21.02 million), REITs (20.34 million), closed/fund (22,000), energy (225.70 million), healthcare (80.01 million), telecommunications and media (40.08 million), transportation and logistics (20.55 million), utilities (73.36 million), and business trusts (64,100).

-- BERNAMA