Bursa Malaysia Stays Lower At Midday

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday, weighed down by profit-taking in financial, transportation and utilities heavyweights, a dealer said.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 13.96 points to 1,588.49 from Monday’s close of 1,602.45.

The index had opened 0.45 of-a-point higher at 1,602.90 and moved between 1,585.67 and 1,604.52 throughout the morning trading session.

Market breadth is negative with 581 losers outpacing 341 gainers, while 426 counters were unchanged, 1,280 untraded and 21 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.98 billion units worth RM1.44 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note today that despite Wall Street’s negative overnight performance, the local bourse is likely to trade with a positive tone (later today) as the firm believes that expectations of an upcoming rate cut may buoy technology stocks.

“We noticed buying support in companies like Unisem Group, Inari Amertron and Frontken Corporation which we view as proxies for Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

“In the construction sector, traders may shift attention to key proxies for data centre players as we anticipate new work package announcements this month,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank eased 5.0 sen each to RM9.80 and RM4.46, CIMB and Tenaga Nasional shed 10 sen to RM7.40 and RM13.62 respectively.

Meanwhile, IHH Healthcare added 1.0 sen to RM6.80.

As for the most active counters, Magma group amplified 5.5 sen to 27 sen, Genetec Tech rose 7.0 sen to 66.5 sen. Tanco Holdings dropped half-a-sen to 72.5 sen, NexG fell 1.5 sen to 47.5 sen and Aliance Bank contracted 3.0 sen to RM4.52.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 76.85 points to 11,793.21, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 81.90 points to 11,566.89, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 56.67 points to 11,744.08, the FBM 70 Index contracted 30.30 points to 16,586.18, and the FBM ACE Index decreased 11.73 points to 4,748.74.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 168.76 points to 18,136.53, the Industrial Products and Services Index dipped 0.98 of-a-point to 163.11, the Energy Index fell 3.0 points to 742.76, and the Plantation Index dropped 42.41 points to 7,596.69.

-- BERNAMA