Bursa Malaysia ends at intraday low amid heavy regional selldown
KUALALUMPUR:BursaMalaysia ended broadly lower for the second consecutive day, dragged down by persistent selling across the board in tandem with the heavy selldown seen in regional bourses after a tumble on Wall Street overnight.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 19.40 points, or 1.30 per cent, to finish at its intraday low of 1,468.44 from Tuesday’s close of 1,487.84.
The benchmark index, which opened 12.60 points lower at 1,475.24, reached its highest at 1,480.55 in early trade.
Market breadth was negative with decliners thumping advancers 595 to 256, while 387 counters were unchanged, 1,113 untraded, and 13 others suspended. Total turnover was marginally lower at 2.63 billion units worth RM1.63 billion from 2.64 billion units worth RM1.74 billion on Tuesday.
UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of wealth research and advisor Mohd Sedek Jantan said the Malaysian stock market fell after the sell-off on Wall Street overnight.
“Volatility increased due to the unexpectedly high US inflation report last night. Volatility in regional equity, bond, and currency markets is set to return after the relative calm in the past few sessions. The fall (in regional markets) was influenced by the sell-off in US markets.
“On the other hand, the hot inflation eliminates the possibility that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) would do a 50 basis points (bps) hike next week, but (the inflation rate) isn’t disastrous enough to prompt a major push for a 100 bps hike,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Sedek reckons that the Fed will raise interest rates by 75 bps next week, hence, he expects the market will continue to be volatile till this week with all the negative sentiment.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the consumer price index (CPI) reading showed that the Fed is likely to keep raising interest rates at a sharp pace this year to combat inflation, a scenario that is negative for stock markets. — Bernama