Malaysia Stock Market Ends First Half Of 2017 On Weak Note

By Zairina Zainudin KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s stock market (Bursa Malaysia) ended the first half of the year easier Friday weighed down by unfavourable regional sentiment that curbed interests for equities despite the better oil prices. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 7.69 points lower at 1,763.67 from Thursday’s close of 1,771.36 on the back of selling in major blue-chips led by IHH Healthcare. After opening 2.27 points weaker at 1,770.32 earlier today, the key index moved between 1,755.65 and 1,772.59 throughout the day. IHH Healthcare, which planned to open a US$200 million (US$1 = RM4.29) hospital in Shanghai, fell 18 sen to RM5.75 with 6.48 million shares traded. The stock accounted for -2.529 points to the key index. On the scoreboard, losers hammered gainers by 507 to 336, with 406 counters unchanged, 557 untraded and 53 others suspended. Volume improved to 1.51 billion units worth RM2.31 billion from 1.39 billion units worth RM1.56 on Thursday. Etiqa Insurance & Takaful’s Head of Research, Investment Management Division, Chris Eng, said Bursa Malaysia’s downtrend was in tandem with the sell-down seen in the regional peers. However, late window-dressing managed to help FBM KLCI recover half of its earlier losses, he said. “Support level has been broken. Even with the window-dressing, it is still not enough to push the key index up,” he told Bernama. The FBM KLCI finished the first trading day of the year easier at 1,635.53. The local bourse was mostly in red today as investors took the cue from the poor overnight Wall Street’s performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.92 per cent to 20,033.43, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased by 0.77 per cent to 25,764.58 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined by 0.99 per cent to 3,226.48. Among heavyweights, Sime Darby lost seven sen to RM9.50, CIMB declined six sen to RM6.58, and Petronas Chemicals eased two sen to RM7.10. Public Bank rose two sen to RM20.32. Maybank and Tenaga were flat at RM9.63 and RM14.14 respectively. Of the actives, Hiap Teck gained two sen to RM38.5 sen, while both Talam and Vsolar added one sen each to five sen and 10.5 sen respectively. Nestle (M) topped the gainers’ list, rising RM1.52 to RM85.00, while Teck Guan Perdana led the losers’ chart, giving up 22 sen to RM1.84. -- BERNAMA