KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Bursa Malaysia retreated from yesterday’s gains to end lower today due to profit-taking, amid the jittery performance of the regional markets, as investors were cautious ahead of the speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, scheduled for today, said a dealer.
Market breadth was also negative with decliners outpacing advancers 472 to 368, while 436 counters were unchanged, 935 untraded, and 20 others suspended. “We view the profit-taking today as a good opportunity to bargain hunt for stocks at lower levels,” he told Bernama. Region-wise, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.27 per cent to 21,331.46, China’s SSE Composite Index fell 0.21 per cent to 3,169.51, Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 1.29 per cent to 3,262.91, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.78 per cent to 26,175.56, and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.05 per cent to 2,351.31.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 43.67 points to 10,692.60, the FBMT 100 Index slid 47.43 points to 10,395.62, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 68.34 points to 10,893.34. The Main Market volume shrank to 1.97 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion compared with Monday’s 2.09 billion shares worth RM1.54 billion.