Bursa Malaysia snaps 7-day winning run to end marginally lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ceded earlier gains to finish in the negative territory today due to profit-taking activities in the late trading session, ending its seven-day winning streak.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dipped 1.11 points to 1,464.56 from yesterday's close of 1,465.67.

The benchmark index opened 0.76 of-a-point better at 1,466.43 and moved between 1,464.09 and 1,470.79 throughout the day.

In the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 465 to 411, while 491 counters were unchanged, 950 untraded, and 23 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 3.84 billion units worth RM2.67 billion from 3.72 billion units worth RM2.42 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices closed mixed but was mostly higher earlier, buoyed by the upbeat Wall Street overnight and the Bank of Japan's decision to keep its interest rate on hold is expected to lend support to Japanese stocks.

"Meanwhile, investors are awaiting a slew of economic data from the United States later this week to firm up their gauges on rate," he told Bernama.

On the local front, Thong said the FBM KLCI failed to hold above the crucial 1,465 resistance line.

"We hope for a breakout from this line, if not, the benchmark index will further consolidate around that level for a short period, pending new catalysts.

"If the FBM KLCI is able to break out from the 1,465 resistance level for an extended period and holds strongly, we anticipate stronger potential upwards in the near term.

"We expect the key index to trend within the 1,460-1,470 range for the rest of the week, with immediate support at 1,450 and resistance at 1,500," he added.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals increased nine sen to RM7.18, Maybank slid one sen to RM8.97, Public Bank went down two sen to RM4.32, CIMB lost six sen to RM5.90, while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM10.00.

Of the actives, TWL Holdings inched up half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, Jati Tinggi added four sen to 31 sen, Leform rose two sen to 41 sen, Top Glove fell 3.5 sen to 90.5 sen, and Careplus dropped 2.5 sen to 44 sen.