Malaysian Stock Market Closes At Intra-Day Day Low On Weak Market Sentiment

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 (Bernama) -- Lack of positive domestic catalyst and looming concern over economic growth affected the performance of stock markets, including the Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia), which ended at an intra-day low of 1,664.63, down 15.27 points or 0.91 per cent Monday against Friday's close of 1679.90. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Head of research Kenny Yee, however, said the downtrend was only a short-term reaction. “We believe the situation would improve once the impending interest rate hike is postponed in the United States,” he told Bernama. The benchmark index opened 0.24 point higher at 1,680.14 and moved between 1,664.63 and 1,680.18 throughout the day. On the scoreboard, market breadth was negative with 638 losers to 266 gainers while 355 counters remained unchanged, 645 untraded and 20 others were suspended. Volume was lower at 2.54 billion units, valued at RM2.32 billion, from 2.61 billion units, worth, RM2.22 billion, recorded on Friday. “Talks of slower global economic growth, as projected by the European Central Bank, may result in the US Federal Reserves being reluctant to hike rates anytime soon as depicted by the 10-year Treasury rates now at 2.63 per cent compared with its 12-month high of 3.25 per cent,” he explained. Among heavyweights, Maybank lost six sen to RM9.47, PBBank reduced 30 sen to RM24.2, PChem declined five sen to RM9.20, Tenaga reduced eight sen to RM12.62 and IHH was two sen lower at RM5.86. Of losers, PetDag lost 34 sen to RM25.90, AeonCr declined 32 sen to RM16.88, DLady eased 30 sen to RM63.6 and Harta reduced 24 sen to RM4.75. Meanwhile, Amtek, which fell into the Practice Note 17 (PN17) status and faces a possible delisting from the local bourse, saw its share price decline 25 sen to 12 sen. -- BERNAMA