Bursa Malaysia erased earlier gains to end lower on Thursday (Feb 16) due to profit-taking on a lack of fresh catalysts, as investors remained cautious amid the mixed performance of regional and global equity markets, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI had dipped 3.93 points to end at 1,484.26, compared with Wednesday’s close at 1,488.19.
The key index opened 0.35 of a point weaker at 1,487.84, and moved between 1,483.54 and 1,494.54 throughout the trading day.
However, market breadth was positive, as advancers led decliners 527 to 403, while 410 counters were unchanged, 873 untraded, and 16 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.56 billion units worth RM2.55 billion, against Wednesday’s 3.49 billion units worth RM2.02 billion.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said local market sentiment remained on shaky footing as higher United States (US) yields on the back of sticky US inflation data, compounded by very strong retail sales, have markets thinking the Federal Reverse (Fed) will need to move interest rates higher and keep them there longer.
However, the recent data is possibly due to seasonal trends, hence, investors are really waiting to see how the Fed interprets the hot US data. In the meantime, the stronger US dollar is dissuading investors to add more local risk,” he told Bernama.
However, Innes said, with China’s economic expectations still bright into the second quarter (2Q), and as oil prices started to move higher again, supporting oil and gas constituents — investors continued to nibble on dips.
“But, for the FBM KLCI to move decisively above 1,500, investors need to see some evidence of a China slingshot recovery into 2Q,” he added.
Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank lost 3.0 sen to RM8.77, Public Bank fell 1.0 sen to RM4.17, Petronas Chemicals dropped 2.0 sen to RM8.20, Tenaga Nasional slid 5.0 sen to RM9.90, and CIMB was flat at RM5.43.
As for active stocks, MYEG, Sapura Energy and Vinvest were all flat at 69.5 sen, 5.0 sen and 23 sen, respectively. Hong Seng slipped 3.0 sen to 18.5 sen, while Betamek was 3.0 sen higher at 61 sen.
