Malaysian Stock Market Ends Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (Bernama) – The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) closed broadly lower Friday, in tandem with the downtrend in regional bourses prompted by continued weak market sentiment and re-emerged risk aversion which curbed interest for equities, dealers said. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 14.04 points weaker at 1,661.96 from yesterday’s close of 1,676.00 on the back of selling in index-linked counters like IHH Healthcare, Tenaga, Public Bank and Maybank. The barometer index moved between 1,661.30 and 1,671.73 throughout the day with the overall market breadth remaining unfavourable. Trading on the local bourse also saw heavy selling in small capitalisation stocks with the Small Cap Index erasing 129.09 points to settle at 11,906.14. There with 541 losers and 242 gainers, while 339 counters remained unchanged, 780 untraded and 24 others were suspended. Total volume decreased marginally to 1.50 billion units, worth RM1.39 billion, from 1.57 billion units, valued at RM1.65 billion, traded yesterday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Head of Research Kenny Yee said the downward pattern on Bursa Malaysia was due to local investors taking the cue from the declining Dow Jones Industrial Average, profit taking activities ahead of the weekend coupled with concerns over China’s economic growth. “China's economy continued to show slow growth and the weak economic data somehow hurt sentiment. “We have quite a significant investment and trade with the Chinese, so any progress is worrying,” he told Bernama. China’s industrial production growth contracted to 5.4 per cent in November, the lowest since the start of 2016, while the country’s retail sales rose 8.1 per cent, the least in 15 years. Back home, among heavyweights, Maybank eased seven sen to RM9.37, Public Bank fell 24 sen to RM24.74, Tenaga lost 20 sen to RM13.26, Petronas Chemicals trimmed five sen to RM9.12 while CIMB slipped four sen to RM5.80. Of actives, Priceworth added half-a-sen to 5.5 sen, Bumi Armada shed half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, Vortex eased one sen to 8.5 sen while Hubline was flat at four sen. The FBM Emas Index was 88.88 points lower at 11,419.11, the FBMT 100 Index fell 86.21 points to 11,317.53, the FBM 70 declined 63.80 points to 13,193.56, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 106.89 points to 11,348.28 and the FBM Ace Index contracted 70.64 points to 4,390.11. Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 108.02 points to 17,357.76, the Plantation Index decreased 50.88 points to 6,647.66 and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.98 of-a-point to 166.80. -- BERNAMA