Bursa Malaysia Ends Lukewarm At Midday

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lukewarm on Thursday as investors digested updated United States tariff announcements, particularly on Malaysia and the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) cut, despite stronger regional market performance.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched higher by 0.23 of a point to 1,529.47 from Wednesday’s close of 1,529.24.

The benchmark index had earlier opened 2.19 points higher at 1,531.43.

However, the broader market was slightly negative, with 394 decliners outnumbering 382 gainers, while 484 counters were unchanged, 1,158 untraded and 10 suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.19 billion units worth RM1.12 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it believes Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) lowering its OPR by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent would favour the real estate investment trust (REIT) counters as the lower OPR makes REIT dividend yields more attractive than fixed deposits.

The brokerage noted that investors will also be watching Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio today, particularly regarding the 25 per cent tariff imposition on Malaysia.

“In the meantime, the local bourse started to show signs of breaking down the exponential moving averages, with technical indicators trading mixed.

“The moving average convergence/divergence histogram is hovering in positive territory, while the relative strength index has hooked downwards. Resistance is anticipated around 1,544-1,549, while support is located at 1,509-1,514,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM9.69, Public Bank gained three sen to RM4.29, while Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare shed two sen to RM13.98 and RM6.65 respectively. CIMB added five sen to RM6.62.

As for the most active stocks, Sapura Energy and NexG were flat at four sen and 44.5 sen respectively, while Eco-Shop garnered one sen to RM1.28, Zetrix AI improved 2.5 sen to 98 sen and Magma went up three sen to 51 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index inched 7.39 points higher to 11,491.61, the FBMT 100 Index edged up 5.73 points to 11,255.27, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 8.05 points to 11,478.84.

The FBM 70 Index increased 26 points to 16,660.94, while the FBM ACE Index shed 8.27 points to 4,488.36.

By sector, the Financial Services Index grew 20.43 points to 17,525.92, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.42 of a point to 152.80, the Energy Index ticked down 0.1 of a point to 736.80, and the Plantation Index trimmed 54.53 points to 7,424.55.

-- BERNAMA