Market sentiment today was reserved and cautious. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index, or FBM KLCI, lost 7.39 points, or 0.45%, to settle at 1,633.55.
The benchmark index was seen fluctuating between the high of 1,643.07 and the low of 1,631.89.
Notably, following the announcement of Public Bank Bhd’s acquisition of 44.15% of LPI Capital Bhd, the corresponding counters for both the listed companies declined sharply.
Public Bank Bhd and LPI Capital Bhd both experienced sizeable losses following Public Bank’s acquisition of 44.15% of LPI Capital’s equity.
LPI Capital was the top decliner, losing 40 sen, or 3.08%, to settle at RM12.60. Meanwhile, Public Bank came in third on the decliners’ list, and lost 26 sen, or 5.69%, to close at RM4.31.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, on the contrary, traded up to surpass Public Bank as the second largest publicly listed company by market capitalisation of RM88.07 billion (RM88,072,480,000).
Based on estimation, Public Bank’s market capitalisation has reduced to around RM85 billion1.
CIMB Group Holdings gained 17 sen, or 1.73%, to close at RM8.22. According to market analysts, the share price of CIMB Group Holdings started to pick up on Monday, largely upward trending until Friday.
Malayan Banking Bhd, or Maybank, is still the largest public-listed company of the country with market capitalisation reaching RM129.80 billion (RM129,799,560,000).
The exchange’s Financial Services Index, in general, did not react positively to the latest acquisition of LPI Capital Bhd by Public Bank Bhd. The financial index trimmed 124.99 points, or 0.65%, to settle at 19,178.28.
The exchange’s Transportation & Logistics Index continued its upward momentum since last Friday (Oct 4), adding 12.78 points, or 1.21%, to end the day at 1,072.89.
Technology Index, meanwhile, was the only index with more than 1% point loss, shedding 0.72 points, or 1.21%, to close at 58.66 points.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers 546 to 420, with 526 counters unchanged and 961 untraded.
Total daily trading volume increased to 2.29 billion shares valued at RM2.67 billion, from 2.63 billion shares valued at RM2.30 billion yesterday.
- Estimated using Market capitalisation of US$21.631 billion at RM4.69. Source: Bursa Malaysia ↩︎
