KUALA LUMPUR (May 6): The FBM KLCI closed down 12.62 points or 0.91% at 1,376.93 today, after a final hour plunge landed the index at its intraday low.
Analysts and remisiers said investors took profit today, ahead of a holiday in Malaysia tomorrow. At 5pm today, the KLCI closed down at 1,376.93 after rising to its intraday high at 1393.56.
"The market continued its profit taking activity for this week as most shares had gained a lot compared with last month," Maybank Investment Bank Bhd remisier Jeffry Azizi Jaafar told theedgemarkets.com.
"Markets will close tomorrow due to a public holiday. This, coupled with the long weekend until Monday, another public holiday, prompted traders and investors to sell their shares as they would not want to hold overnight stocks in these uncertain times," he said.
Tomorrow (May 7), Malaysia markets will be closed in conjunction with the Wesak Day holiday. Trading resumes on Friday (May 8).
On Monday (May 11), local markets will be closed again in lieu of Nuzul Al-Quran, which falls on Sunday (May 10).
Today, Bursa Malaysia saw 5.89 billion shares traded for RM2.8 billion across the exchange. There were 445 gainers and 441 decliners.
Top decliners included KLCI stocks Public Bank Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Petronas Gas Bhd after a sharp drop in their share prices in the last hour of trading.
Public Bank’s share price closed down 32 sen or 1.99% at RM15.74, Tenaga dropped 22 sen or 1.78% to RM12.16, while Petronas Gas fell 22 sen or 1.45% to RM14.98.
Globally, it was reported Asian shares extended gains on Wednesday, as investors saw China's yuan fixing offering a modest olive branch to Washington, amid a resurgence in trade tensions, while oil ended its winning streak on oversupply fears and weak demand.
It was reported that China's central bank set the yuan at a broadly neutral midpoint, analysts said, helping take the focus off the exchange rate, a typically contentious point in Sino-U.S. ties. That helped mainland stocks claw back initial losses on their first day of trade since breaking for a holiday last week, as reported.
"Oil prices reversed course to edge lower on Wednesday, as a higher than expected rise in U.S. inventories refocused investors on the risk of oversupply, amid a coronavirus-driven slump in fuel demand.
"U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 27 cents or 1.1% to US$24.29 a barrel by 0436 GMT, snapping a five-day winning streak. Brent crude futures dipped 20 cents or 0.7% to US$30.77 a barrel, ending a six-day rise.
"Oil slipped after a report showed U.S. crude inventories rose 8.4 million barrels last week, more than expected, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute(API) late on Tuesday,” Reuters reported.