KUALA LUMPUR (March 1): The FBM KLCI closed down for a fourth consecutive trading day today to end the week at 1,700 — a key psychological level, as investors grow wary of corporate earnings prospects following a string of weaker quarterly results.
The benchmark index recovered from an intraday low of 1,696.71 points to finish at 1,700.76 points at 5pm, down 6.97 points or 0.41% from Thursday's close. Some 20.66 points or 1.2% was shed over the trading week.
Market breadth was largely negative before reversing ahead of market close, with 486 gainers versus 460 losers at the end of the day. A total of 329 counters were unchanged.
Total turnover stood at 2.90 billion shares worth RM2.35 billion.
Top gainers included VS Industry Bhd, while Tenaga Nasional Bhd and MNRB Holdings Bhd were among top decliners.
Areca Capital Sdn Bhd CEO Danny Wong Teck Meng said this week's weakness was largely because of growing concerns over corporate earnings following sluggish results for the three-month period ended Dec 31, 2018.
He said although corporate results for the quarter were within his expectations, some of the bigger caps did not perform as well as the small and mid caps. Company CEOs have also been talking down their prospects, which added to the index movement.
"However, big caps do tend to have a traditionally weak quarter in the fourth quarter given that they may have to book in provisions and foreign exchange translations at the year-end," he explained.
Asian shares edged up today after index publisher MSCI announced it would raise the weight of Chinese mainland shares in its global benchmarks, while strong US economic data lifted the dollar, Reuters reported.
In China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index closed 1.8% higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index finished 0.63% up. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.02%.
The gains in Asia were a contrast to Wall Street's weaker finish on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.27%, after US President Donald Trump fuelled concerns over the current US-China trade talks when he said he could walk away from a trade deal with China if it was not good enough for the US.