Bursa Malaysia Lower At Midday Amid Renewed West Asia Tensions
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia finished the morning session in negative territory, mirroring regional peers that tumbled amid fresh strikes in West Asia and concerns over technology stocks.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.23 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 1,682.20 from last Friday's close of 1,693.43.
The benchmark index opened 9.89 points weaker at 1,683.54 -- the highest level up to midday -- before moving as low as 1,676.95 during the morning session.
Market breadth remained negative, with losers surpassing gainers 846 to 241, while 402 counters were unchanged, 1,186 untraded and 13 suspended.
Malacca Securities, in a research note, said the cash market is expected to track the strong sell-down on Wall Street last Friday and the negative sentiment will spill over into the local bourse today, creating buy-on-the-dip opportunities among banking counters.
“The regional market took lead from the US market, as Wall Street will continue to face selling pressure in the near term,” it said.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 1.50 per cent to 4,974.11, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.18 per cent to 24,668.59, South Korea’s Kospi benchmark sank 5.21 per cent to 7,735.29, and Japan’s Nikkei declined 3.97 per cent to 63,943.88.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank erased 10 sen to RM10.70, Public Bank retreated nine sen lower at RM4.78, and IHH Healthcare lost 18 sen to RM8.67, while Tenaga Nasional and CIMB were flat at RM14.10 and RM7.39, respectively.
Among the active stocks, Zetrix AI slipped two sen to 80.5 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated was unchanged at one sen, VS Industry slipped half a sen to 20.5 sen, SFP Tech shed one sen to 29.5 sen, Top Glove added 2.5 sen to 84 sen, AirAsia X trimmed three sen to RM1.11, and Capital A shaved off one sen to 41 sen.
As for the top gainers, Ideal Capital surged 30 sen to RM4.10, Kim Loong racked up 20 sen to RM2.75, Petronas Chemicals jumped 13 sen to RM5.56, SD Guthrie firmed 10 sen to RM6.55, and Subur Tiasa rose 6.5 sen to 72 sen.
Among the top losers, Nestle gave up RM1.34 to RM92.94, Malaysian Pacific Industries dipped RM1.08 to RM45.72, Petronas Dagangan weakened 56 sen to RM18.68, United Plantations eased 50 sen to RM31.70, and UMS Integration was 45 sen lower at RM7.55.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 99.04 points to 12,503.02, the FBM Top 100 Index notched down 93.53 points to 12,348.37, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 83.40 points to 12,486.75.
The FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 184.67 points to 18,114.93 and the FBM ACE Index edged down 100.22 points to 4,633.02.
By sector, the Financial Services Index shrank 208.41 points to 19,575.90, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.40 points to 197.34, and the Energy Index slid 7.91 points to 788.29, but the Plantation Index gained 54.74 points to 8,726.28.
-- BERNAMA