Bursa Malaysia Stays Lower At Midday
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower in line with regional markets following the weaker Wall Street performance overnight amid growing concerns that the new US budget bill will put more stress on the already huge deficit.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 13.69 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 1,531.11 from Wednesday’s close of 1,544.80.
The benchmark index, which opened 3.34 points easier at 1,541.46, fluctuated between 1,530.33 and 1,541.46 throughout the session.
The broader market was negative with 652 decliners against 200 gainers, while 420 counters were unchanged, 1,146 untraded, and seven suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.83 billion units worth RM962.90 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the situation was still disappointing for the local bourse as the FBM KLCI dropped further to just below the 1,545 mark at yesterday’s close.
“Still lacking any catalysts, we expect the local bourse to stay in consolidation mode with the index to oscillate in the 1,540-1,550 range today,” it said in a research note today.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.01 per cent to 36,921.11, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index decreased 0.55 per cent to 23,695.88 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 0.33 per cent to 3,869.79.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Gas gained two sen to RM17.68, MISC added one sen to RM7.67, CelcomDigi was flat at RM3.90, Maybank slid nine sen to RM9.91, Public Bank fell 11 sen to RM4.32, and TNB declined 10 sen to RM14.00.
For active stocks, MYEG rose half-a-sen to 90.5 sen, Nationgate advanced three sen to RM1.60, Velesto was flat at 16.5 sen, Tanco and JAKS both eased half-a-sen to 96 sen and 10 sen respectively, and Sarawak Cable slipped one sen to two sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 92.31 points to 11,433.37, the FBMT 100 Index fell 89.50 points to 11,193.27, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 73.36 points to 11,372.29, the FBM ACE Index gave up 34.95 points to 4,590.11, and the FBM 70 Index declined 35.94 points to 16,258.22.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 211.71 points to 18,004.16, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.34 point easier at 153.71, the Energy Index trimmed 8.03 points to 704.93, and the Plantation Index tumbled 10.98 points to 7,318.80.
-- BERNAMA
