Bursa Malaysia Lower At Midday, Tracking Regional Market

By Danni Haizal Danial Donald

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia stayed lower at midday today, tracking the weaker regional market performance amid profit-taking activities, an analyst said.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.63 points to 1,624.40 from Tuesday’s closing of 1,630.03.

The market bellwether had opened 1.88 points lower at 1,628.15, and hit its lowest level of 1,621.17 earlier in the session.

Market breadth was negative with 593 decliners against 358 gainers, while a total of 444 counters were unchanged, 1,189 untraded, and eight suspended. 

Turnover stood at 2.29 billion units, valued at RM1.34 billion.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 0.50 per cent to 4,449.74, Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.09 per cent to 47,906.65, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 1.07 per cent lower at 26,669.99, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.70 per cent to 3,549.21.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng attributed the FBM KLCI’s decline to profit-taking activities, especially by the foreign funds, over the last two days.

“We believe the local bourse remains rather well supported and see the recent weakness as a brief digestion period for the market. As such, we anticipate the index to trend in the 1,625-1,635 range today,” he said to Bernama

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.97, while Public Bank slipped three sen to RM4.33, CIMB Group and IHH Healthcare lost four sen each to RM7.63 and RM8.15, respectively, and Tenaga Nasional dipped eight sen to RM13.20.

In active trading, KNM Group, Zetrix AI and Pharmaniaga were all flat at half-a-sen, 84 sen and 28.5 sen, respectively. Tanco erased 1.5 sen to 84.5 sen, while Land & General and Pharmaniaga rose half a sen each to 16 sen.

Top gainers included Kuala Lumpur Kepong and PPB, up 22 sen each to RM20.52 and RM10.90, respectively; Sunway Construction, 16 sen higher at RM6.05; Hong Leong, rising 12 sen to RM20.50; and LPI Capital, growing 10 sen to RM14.50

Of the top losers, Nestle was down 64 sen to RM97.02; Petronas Dagangan and Malaysian Pacific Industries were 12 sen lower at RM22.78 and RM31.36, respectively; Unisem dipped 11 sen to RM3.45; and Fraser and Neave shed 10 sen to RM28.18.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index sank 326.09 points to 12,091.23 and the FBM 100 Index declined 37.77 points to 11,822.08, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 33.54 points to 12,099.80.

The FBM 70 Index narrowed 40.12 points to 16,925.48, while the FBM ACE Index lost 22.05 points to 5,289.36.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.18 of a point to 173.41 and the Financial Services Index slid 78.10 points to 18,493.85, while the Energy Index gained 5.26 points to 785.83, and the Plantation Index rose 34.55 points to 7,828.40.

-- BERNAMA