KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower in most of the index-linked counters today, as profit-taking continued after gaining nearly 3.8 per cent over the past three weeks, dealers said.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.22 per cent or 3.49 points lower at 1,603.25 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,606.74.
The key index, however, opened 2.69 points higher at 1,609.43 and moved between 1,609.64 and 1,597.18 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers edged gainers 490 to 333, while 405 counters were unchanged, 748 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Volume expanded to 2.70 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion from yesterday’s 2.6 billion shares worth RM2.25 billion.
Phillip Capital Management senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the movement of the benchmark index was deemed to be bullish for the medium term.
“The months of November and December are traditionally bullish for KLCI. We recommend that it is good to buy on weakness,” he told Bernama.
He said as Wall Street continues its record run on the back of an imminent US-China trade deal, coupled with falling Federal Reserve rates and robust US economic data, the FBM KLCI is expected to extend its gains and climb above 1,600, lifted by the spillover effect from the overnight gains on the US stock market.
“We set the immediate support at 1,600 points followed by the 1,570-point mark. On the flip side, look for the 1,660-point level as our immediate resistance and the next resistance is pegged at 1,700.
“Moving forward, the local bourse seemed to be more upbeat following positive development in the trade feud and a series of rate cut movement led by the US. These appear to drive the domestic financial markets higher and have shown some positive outcomes on the economy as well,” he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank recovered five sen to RM8.71, while Tenaga fell eight sen to RM13.92, Public Bank eased six sen to RM19.80 and CIMB declined one sen to RM5.32.
As for oil and gas stocks, Petronas Chemicals slid 10 sen to RM7.60, Petronas Gas dipped 20 sen to RM16.42 and Petronas Dagangan eased four sen to RM23.70 amid worries of declining demand.
Of the actives, Velesto added 2.5 sen to 38.5 sen, Sumatec was flat at half-a-sen and MSports fell one sen to half-a-sen.