KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its downtrend at the close for the fourth consecutive day today with the benchmark index hitting a new year-to-date low as cautious investors offloaded shares.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 7.21 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 1,373.36 from Wednesday's close of 1,380.57.
The barometer index opened 4.29 points higher at 1,384.86, before retreating mid-morning into negative territory.
It was traded between an intraday low of 1,372.57 and an intraday high of 1,385.07.
On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 521 to 321, while 353 counters were unchanged, 1,151 untraded, and nine others suspended.
Turnover widened to 2.03 billion units worth RM1.69 billion from 1.85 billion units worth RM1.56 billion on Wednesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that the FBM KLCI remained in negative territory after a lacklustre trading day due to the absence of buying catalysts.
"Nevertheless, we believe the FBM KLCI has been extremely oversold.
"Hence, we reckon bargain-hunting may set in and (push up) the benchmark index to be slightly higher within the 1,370-1,390 range towards the weekend," he told Bernama.
Thong also noted that key regional markets were mostly lower ahead of the release of the US Consumer Price Index data as investors were wary inflation would still be on the high side, thereby reinforcing the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) plans for more aggressive interest rate hikes.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased by four sen to RM8.47, Public Bank gave up five sen to RM4.17, and Petronas Chemicals dropped 10 sen to RM8.45.
CIMB stayed flat at RM5.30 while IHH Healthcare gained six sen to RM5.60.
Of the actives, Top Glove added 5.5 sen to 69 sen, MYEG gave up nine sen to 79 sen, and Citaglobal inched down 1.5 sen to 27 sen.
Supermax and Careplus each rose 6.5 sen to 77.5 sen and 31.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 53.88 points to 9,798.52, the FBM 70 went down 98.22 points to 11,841.14, and the FBMT 100 Index contracted 57.03 points to 9,546.98.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 54.09 points to 9,767.54 and the FBM ACE lost 13.72 points to 4,617.65.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 60.45 points lower at 15,863.32, the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.73 of a point to 168.51, and the Plantation Index slipped 16.50 points to 6,348.02.
The Energy Index trimmed 6.83 points to 667.95.
The Main Market volume widened to 1.39 billion shares worth RM1.51 billion versus 1.11 billion shares worth RM1.37 billion on Wednesday.
Warrant turnover declined to 235.42 million units valued at RM39.46 million against 364.45 million units valued at RM48.22 million previously.
The ACE Market volume improved to 406.04 million shares worth RM139.86 million from 375.39 million shares worth RM140.89 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 180.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (348.52 million), construction (34.88 million), technology (168.28 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (63.95 million), property (123.75 million), plantation (13.94 million), REITs (4.71 million), closed/fund (5,000), energy (93.79 million), healthcare (276.28 million), telecommunications and media (38.37 million), transportation and logistics (26.53 million) and utilities (13.09 million). - Bernama
