Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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Shares on the local bourse extended their losses for the second straight day this week. In fact, Wall Street’s sharp overnight losses set the negative tone for Asian markets on June 23. Most of the relevant bellwether indices in the region ended in the red.

 Selling pressure was evident right from the word get go. The KL Composite Index fell by as much as 18 points in the earlier part of the day. Although the benchmark index managed to claw back most of its losses after the break, sentiment remained weak.

 Market breadth was negative throughout the day but improved slightly near the close. At the close, there were two losing stocks for every gaining one. The KLCI ended the day marginally lower at 1,044.5. Some of the top losers for the day include blue chip stocks MPI, BCHB and Bursa Malaysia.

 Selling pressure was recorded across almost all sectors. Plantation stocks such as Batu Kawan, Sime Darby, Asiatic Development and IOI Corp all ended lower on the back of weaker crude palm oil prices.

The benchmark futures contract traded on the Bursa Derivatives traded below RM2,200 per tonne during the day before recouping losses to close above this level. Still, prices were well off the high of almost RM2,800 per tonne in May.

Global equity and commodity markets have suffered some profit taking in recent days on concerns that the global economic recovery may not turn out to be as rapid or as strong as initial expectations.

This week, investor confidence was further dampened by the World Bank’s downward revision for its global growth forecast – to a 2.9% contraction from 1.7% contraction in March. It also lowered growth estimate for 2010 to 2%, down from 2.3% previously.

Benchmark crude oil futures traded below US$67 per barrel, well off its recent high of over US$73 per barrel, in Asian trade on June 23.

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