KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Bursa Malaysia ended Friday lower as worries over economic and financial developments in the US and China weighed on global sentiment. 

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.01 points to 1,460.67 from Thursday’s closing of 1,464.68.

The index opened 3.09 points easier at 1,461.59 and subsequently moved between 1,458.53 and 1,462.31 throughout the trading session.

The market breadth was mixed with decliners slightly outpacing gainers 450 to 440 while 461 counters were unchanged, 1,039 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 3.27 billion units valued at RM1.89 billion from Thursday’s 3.48 billion units valued at RM2.07 billion.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said major regional indices mirrored global negativity, with Hong Kong experiencing a sharp decline after Chinese tech giant Alibaba scrapped its cloud computing unit spin-off plan, citing uncertainties arising from US chip restrictions.

"On top of that, several reports on Thursday indicated a slowdown in the US economy amid an increased number of workers who filed for unemployment benefits last week," he said.

Nevertheless, Thong said he still believes the local market is able to turn positive due to the persistent net inflows from foreign funds. "Foreign net inflows reached more than RM1 billion month to date, (while) the strong fundamentals of the local economy will drive the market going forward," he added.

Malaysia on Friday reported an economic expansion of 3.3% in 3Q quarter from 2.9% in the second quarter, supported by resilient domestic demand.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour is expecting the domestic economy to expand by about 4% in 2023 and 4-5% in 2024 despite the challenging global environment.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank Bhd eased two sen to RM9.12, Public Bank Bhd lost one sen to RM4.23, CIMB bagged two sen to RM5.80 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd dipped 11 sen to RM7.22. Tenaga Nasional Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd were three sen weaker at RM9.96 and RM5.95, respectively. 

Of the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd and Ta Win Holdings Bhd reduced half a sen to 3.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively. Widad Group Bhd was flat at 46 sen while Eden Inc Bhd was half a sen higher at 23 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 28.32 points to 10,799.98, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 28.45 points to 10,462.5 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 28.66 points to 11,004.74.

The FBM 70 Index reduced 37.62 points to 14,302.08 but the FBMACE Index recouped 53.13 points to 5,171.94.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 50.8 points to 16,382.64, the Energy Index slipped 9.44 points to 852.5 and the Plantation Index shaved 0.18 of a point to 7,006.74. The Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.52 of a point to 173.92.

The Main Market volume grew to 2.25 billion units worth RM1.63 billion compared with Thursday’s 2.1 billion units worth RM1.77 billion. 

Warrant turnover dropped to 473.43 million units valued at RM66.04 million from 679.98 million units valued at RM91.97 million the previous day. 

The ACE Market volume was trimmed down to 544.01 million shares worth RM197.15 million from 695.9 million shares worth RM202.66 million previously.  

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 327.23 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (411.51 million); construction (95.84 million); technology (724.18 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (46.25 million); property (193.7 million); plantation (50.18 million); REITs (11.39 million), closed/fund (55,300); energy (98.73 million); healthcare (63.28 million); telecommunications and media (47.75 million); transportation and logistics (33.73 million); and utilities (142.15 million).