Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Mixed
By Zarul Effendi Razali
KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session mixed today as mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights re-emerged, amid mixed sentiment in the regional markets, a dealer said.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.10 per cent, or 1.53 points, to 1,544.27 from Thursday’s close of 1,542.74.
The benchmark index opened 2.25 points higher at 1,544.99 and moved between 1,542.74 and 1,547.60 during the session.
Market breadth was slightly negative, with 433 decliners outpacing 361 gainers, while 453 counters were unchanged, 1,128 untraded and 10 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.97 billion shares worth RM965.84 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said sentiment remained cautious of the impending trade talks between the US and China.
“We are hopeful that Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) aggressive 1.0 per cent cut in the Statutory Reserve Requirement (SRR) from 2.0 per cent to 1.0 per cent, the lowest in 14 years will spur market confidence.
“However, we hope the banks will also play their part to be less stringent in loans approvals. We view BNM’s latest move may encourage some buying interest in banks and expect the index to hover within the 1,545-1,560 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added four sen to RM9.92, Public Bank and CIMB were flat at RM4.45 and RM6.87 respectively, while Tenaga Nasional slipped two sen to RM14.28 and IHH Healthcare declined one sen to RM7.00.
In active trade, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, while Lotte Chemical added 5.5 sen to 60 sen, Tanco improved two sen to 93.5 sen and MyEG went up one sen to 91 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 14.54 points higher at 11,506.35, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 15.56 points to 11,272.59, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 13.75 points to 11,447.08.
The FBM 70 Index gained 40.30 points to 16,306.33, and the FBM ACE Index bagged 7.40 points to 4,668.26.
Across sectors, the Financial Services Index added 17.83 points to 18,072.72, the Energy Index gained 3.57 points to 690.01, and the Plantation Index increased 26.06 points to 7,227.09. The Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.95 of a point to 153.96.
-- BERNAMA
