Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said amid geopolitical tensions, Asia’s risk-off atmosphere showcased traders’ cautious approach as they begin reallocating assets for 2025.
Thong expects that the benchmark index would be unable to maintain the 1,635 support level, and anticipates further consolidation until new catalysts arise.
“As such, we anticipate the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to trend within the range of 1,625-1,635 towards the weekend,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the FBM KLCI kicked off the new year on a subdued note, dragged down by a slump in China’s stocks, reverberating across key exporters like Malaysia following a slowdown in manufacturing.
He added that the disappointing data dampened the previous uplift from Friday’s better-than-expected readings in China’s construction and services purchasing managers’ index (PMI).
“With the global trading atmosphere still relatively calm, as many major international investors have yet to return to the fray, the broader market is bracing for what could be the official start of trading activities around Jan 6, so the market is still susceptible to holiday-thinned trading conditions,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI declined 9.46 points or 0.58% to 1,632.87 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,642.33.
The market was closed yesterday for the New Year holiday.
The index had initially opened 1.01 points lower at 1,641.32 and moved between 1,629.23 and 1,641.32 throughout the day.
The broader market was negative, as decliners outpaced gainers 580 to 449, while 496 counters remained unchanged, 830 untraded, and 11 suspended.
Turnover rose to 2.64 billion units valued at RM1.97 billion from Tuesday’s 2.41 billion units valued at RM2.06 billion.
On key regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was 0.96% lower at 39,894.54, China’s SSE Composite Index fell 2.66% to 3,262.56, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 2.18% to 19,623.32 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.16% to 3,794.57.
Among the heavyweights, CelcomDigi and SD Guthrie added three sen each to RM3.65 and RM4.98 respectively, Petronas Gas strengthened 26 sen to RM17.94, MISC rose two sen to RM7.62, IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.30, Maybank shed six sen to RM10.18, Public Bank slipped two sen to RM4.54, CIMB went down seven sen to RM8.13 and Tenaga Nasional dipped 18 sen to RM14.76.
For active stocks, Velocity Capital climbed 1.5 sen to 6.5 sen, SNS Network was four sen higher at 70 sen, Winstar Capital increased 7.5 sen to 71 sen, MyEG was flat at 96 sen, and Hubline inched down 0.5 sen to five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 48.93 points to 12,536.58, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 40.79 points to 12,549.78, and the FBMT 100 Index gave up 52.14 points to 12,213.82.
The FBM ACE Index surged 51.66 points to 5,432.1 but the FBM 70 Index tumbled 11.2 points to 18,829.93.
By sector, the financial services index lost 109.68 points to 19,060.45, the industrial products and services index ticked down 2.32 points to 174.13, the plantation index dwindled 25.63 points to 7,623.43, and the energy index climbed 7.49 points to 830.42.
The Main Market volume went down to 1.38 billion units worth RM1.73 billion from Tuesday’s 1.44 billion units worth RM1.89 billion.
Warrants turnover improved to 804.29 million units valued at RM74.81 million against 513.26 million units valued at RM49.54 million previously.
The ACE Market volume was slightly higher at 457.16 million units worth RM166.07 million from 456.02 million units worth RM123.31 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 193.54 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (318.25 million), construction (125.77 million), technology (254.76 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (31.53 million), property (170.11 million), plantation (27.13 million), REITs (22.7 million), closed/fund (150,600), energy (69.61 million), healthcare (59.65 million), telecommunications and media (23.95 million), transportation and logistics (47.21 million), utilities (33.91 million) and business trusts (71,300).