BURSA MALAYSIA PARES GAINS TO CLOSE LOWER AS INVESTORS SELL TELECOMMUNICATION STOCKS

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia pared gains to end lower on Thursday, dragged down by selling in selected blue chips, especially those in the telecommunications sector, an analyst said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.04 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,617.46 from Wednesday’s close of 1,624.50.

The benchmark index, which opened 2.66 points higher at 1,627.16, rose to a high of 1,629.26 in early trade before slipping to a low of 1,617.76 during the afternoon session.

The broader market was negative, with decliners thumping gainers 655 to 448. A total of 540 counters were unchanged, 1,133 untraded, and 98 suspended.

Turnover expanded to 4.21 billion units worth RM2.83 billion from 3.87 billion units worth RM2.98 billion on Wednesday.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said the FBM KLCI closed lower after one telecommunications operator posted softer quarterly earnings, prompting broad-based selling in the sector. "Although the results were specific to a single company, it generated negative spillover sentiment across the entire sector," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank was flat at RM9.98, while Public Bank fell three sen to RM4.35, and CIMB dropped 12 sen to RM7.48. Maxis slipped eight sen to RM4.06, and Axiata lost six sen to RM2.59.

On the most active list, Nationgate and TWL were unchanged at 99.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively, while Tanco gained two sen to RM1.11. MTouche and Zetrix fell 1.5 sen each to four sen and 82 sen, respectively.

Top gainers included F&N, which rose RM1.16 sen to RM34.76, while Dutch Lady was up 86 sen to RM30, and Time Dotcom jumped 47 sen to RM5.24. BLD Plantation garnered 30 sen to RM14.90, and Life Water went up 21 sen to RM1.39.

Among the top losers, Nestle lost 80 sen to RM109, Petronas Dagangan dropped 70 sen to RM20.12, and Petronas Gas slipped 42 sen to RM17.86. KL Kepong eased 40 sen to RM20.20, and Hong Leong Bank gave up 30 sen to RM21.20. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 28.82 points to 12,020.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 0.54 of a point to 12,001.23, and the FBMT 100 Index slid 27.56 points to 11,801.69.

The FBM Mid 70 Index advanced 63.66 points to 17,027.44, while the FBM ACE Index dropped 47.78 points to 4,856.66.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 92.57 points to 18,557.69, the Plantation Index lost 68.88 points to 8,130.24, and the Energy Index rose 0.64 of a point to 755.93. The Industrial Products & Services Index eased 0.25 of a point to 164.47.

The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.54 billion units worth RM2.35 billion from 1.71 billion units worth RM2.55 billion on Wednesday.

Warrant turnover advanced to 2.32 billion units worth RM377.33 million, versus 1.82 billion units worth RM311.62 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume grew to 346.40 million units valued at RM96.26 million from 341.68 million units valued at RM118.34 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 273.20 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (335.30 million), construction (87.44 million), technology (224.69 million), financial services (63.82 million), property (213.64 million), plantation (55.54 million), real estate investment trusts (18.96 million), closed-end fund (64,400), energy (71.07 million), healthcare (69.32 million), telecommunications and media (51.65 million), transportation and logistics (49.53 million), utilities (30.12 million), and business trusts (113,600).

-- BERNAMA