KUALA LUMPUR (April 18): Bursa Malaysia ended in the negative territory for the third straight trading session on Monday (April 18) amid mixed performance in regional markets as stocks succumbed to selling pressure. 

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at its intraday low of 1,581.14, down 7.87 points or 0.5%, against Friday’s close of 1,589.01.

The barometer index hit an intraday high of 1,591.64 in the early morning trading session.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 558 to 314 with 397 counters unchanged, 980 untraded, and 24 others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 2.44 billion units worth RM1.57 billion from 2.15 billion units worth RM1.41 billion last Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local equities continued to decline due to lack of buying interest, amid continuous selling pressure due to weak regional sentiment.

Regionally, the key indices were mostly lower as higher oil prices and Treasury yields heightened worries about inflation.

On a positive note, China's first-quarter 2022 gross domestic product grew faster than expected, rising 4.8%, which was above the expected 4.4% year-on-year increase.

"As for the local bourse, despite the cautious market undertone, we expect bargain hunting will prevail given the cheap valuations of local stocks. Moreover, the positive China economic data will potentially attract more funds to be channelled into the region, which will cause a spillover effect to the local equity market as well,” he told Bernama. 

"As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to move within the 1,580-1,600 range for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,600 and support at 1,580,” he added.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.98% to 3,303.07, South Korea's Kospi shed 0.11% to 2,693.21, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite eased 0.49% to 3,192.52.

Japan’s Nikkei slid 1.08% to 26,799.71 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.67% to 21,518.08.

On the local bourse, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd and Public Bank Bhd slipped four sen to RM8.75 and RM4.63, respectively, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd added eight sen to RM10.40, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd gained two sen to RM6.54, while IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM6.40.

Of the actives, Techna-X Bhd rose one sen to 10.5 sen, Cengild Medical Bhd increased 13.5 sen to 46.5 sen, Permaju Industries Bhd inched up half-a-sen to nine sen, and Hextar Industries Bhd was up three sen to 37.5 sen, while Key Alliance Group Bhd was flat at one sen.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 56.22 points to 11,005.11, FBM Emas Index was 56.79 points weaker at 11,356.91, FBM 70 slipped 75.92 points to 13,705.43, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 33.38 points to 12,014.19 and the FBM ACE dipped 67.02 points to 5,719.48.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.37 of-a-point to 214.84 and the Plantation Index slid 8.09 points to 8,363.36, while the Financial Services Index slumped 145.56 points to 16,490.44.

Main Market volume rose to 1.68 billion shares worth RM1.35 billion compared with 1.49 billion shares worth RM1.26 billion last Friday. 

Warrants turnover dwindled to 95.99 million units valued at RM7.33 million against 113.66 million units valued at RM9.52 million.

ACE Market volume jumped to 667.08 million shares worth RM213.31 million versus 546.98 million shares worth RM140.99 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 369.2 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (453.51 million), construction (93.76 million), technology (123.74 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (51.29 million), property (194.22 million), plantation (42.88 million), REITs (4.96 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (260.78 million), healthcare (30.98 million), telecommunications and media (15.29 million), transportation and logistics (25.35 million), and utilities (17.14 million).

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed on Tuesday (April 19) in conjunction with the Nuzul Al-Quran holiday.