Bursa Malaysia Share Market VolumeLowest Level This Year

KUALA LUMPUR: Investors continued to stay on the sidelines Thursday amid global and domestic uncertainties. Market volume fell to its lowest level this year.

Share prices on the Bursa Malaysia failed to sustain positive momentum from the previous trading day. Sentiment was likely affected by renewed losses on Wall Street overnight.

US stocks closed broadly lower. Investors are nervous on what the upcoming corporate reporting season will unveil, especially for the battered financial sector. Key US stock indices have fallen by over 20% from the high of last year. And market analysts remain clueless on where the market is next headed.

In the absence of strong fresh leads, sentiment in financial markets was, by and large, ambivalent. Relevant bellwether indices in key Asian markets traded mixed. The markets in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong ended marginally higher while Singapore closed in the red.

The KL Composite Index opened in negative territory and dropped by as much as 10 points in early trading. Although the benchmark index then climbed higher and was briefly in positive territory, buying support petered out after the break. Selling pressure reemerged amid thin volume, pushing prices broadly lower.

Market breadth was in the red for the better part of the day. At the close, losing stocks outnumbered gaining ones by a ratio of about three to two. Some the top losers for the day were MISC-foreign, MPI, IJM, Tanjong plc and Genting. The KLCI ended the day four points lower at 1,135.5 points.

Market volume contracted further on Thursday. Less than 291 million shares were traded, down from an average of 417 million shares in the three preceding days. Resorts World, IOI Corp, Gamuda and AirAsia were some of the day's most actively traded stocks.

It is more than likely that investors will remain on the sidelines in the coming days, and perhaps weeks.