Bursa pauses for breather after six-day winning streak

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 25): Bursa Malaysia ended in the red on Tuesday (Oct 25), taking a pause after a six-day winning streak due to profit-taking in heavyweights led by Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.

Significant gains in Axiata Group Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, however, helped to curb further downtrend in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), which ended 2.01 points easier at 1,444.41 compared to last Friday's close of 1,446.42.

The barometer index opened 2.72 points higher at 1,449.14 and moved between 1,441.19 and 1,454.06 throughout the session.

The broader market was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 445 to 420, while 384 counters were unchanged, 1,103 untraded, and 12 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 2.26 billion units valued at RM1.76 billion versus 2.04 billion units worth RM1.51 billion on Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that the local market performance was also in sync with regional markets as investors remained cautious about the outlook for interest rates in the US ahead of next week's Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting.

The Fed will hold a meeting on Nov 1-2, with investors hoping the central bank would soon slow rate hikes as early as December.

Earlier, global equities were temporarily spooked by losses in China's stocks and currency market as investors sell off Chinese assets amid worries over China President Xi Jinping’s new leadership team's economic direction.

"At home, we maintain our cautiously optimistic view as we expect investors' sentiments to remain positive given the improving local economy.

"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend higher within the 1,440 to 1,460 range for the week," he noted.

Heavyweights Petronas Chemicals dipped 16 sen to RM8.84, while Public Bank lost five sen to RM4.45, Petronas Gas Bhd was 24 sen weaker at RM16.96, Tenaga Nasional Bhd erased eight sen to RM8.25, and Petronas Dagangan Bhd slid 42 sen to RM20.88.

Axiata, CIMB and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) remained higher, with Axiata gaining 14 sen to RM2.74, CIMB rising six sen to RM5.59, and Maybank climbing two sen to RM8.68.

Of the actives, Eduspec Holdings Bhd eased half-a-sen to 1.5 sen while Vinvest Capital Holdings Bhd slipped half-a-sen to 21.5 sen, and Widad Group Bhd shed one sen to 47 sen.

MyEG Services Bhd was flat at 83 sen, and Advance Synergy Bhd gained half-a-sen to seven sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 7.49 points to 10,228.39, the FBM 70 climbed 78.76 points to 12,107.39, and the FBMT 100 Index increased 4.36 points to 9,974.82.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 14.72 points to 10,212.12, and the FBM ACE perked up 29.33 points to 4,830.6.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 5.91 points to 16,505.17, and the Energy Index edged down 1.19 points to 678.36.

The Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.67 of-a-point to 175.09, and the Plantation Index dropped 15.19 points to 6,792.08.

The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.25 billion shares worth RM1.49 billion from 1.26 billion shares worth RM1.31 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover improved to 431.82 million units worth RM71.87 million from 252.91 million units worth RM41.86 million.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 575.24 million shares worth RM200.29 million from 523.3 million shares worth RM162.39 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 229.51 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (311.81 million), construction (35.16 million), technology (149.07 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (81.41 million), property (140.53 million), plantation (32.62 million), REITs (5.2 million), closed/fund (80,600), energy (77.76 million), healthcare (102.79 million), telecommunications and media (42.24 million), transportation and logistics (33.84 million), and utilities (12.19 million).