KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower, with selling seen across most sectors, mainly in industrial products, construction and utilities among heavyweight stocks.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 4.08 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 1,608.21 from Thursday’s close of 1,612.29.
The benchmark index opened 1.40 points firmer at 1,613.69 and moved between 1,607.86 and 1,616.36 during the session.
Market breadth was negative, with 689 decliners outnumbering 314 gainers, and 439 counters unchanged, while 1,240 were untraded and 18 suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.11 billion units valued at RM1.32 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the continued support for the National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) under Budget 2026 could bode well for semiconductor-related stocks.
It also said that given Wall Street’s negative performance yesterday, they expect the FBM KLCI to trade on a softer note ahead of the long weekend.
Among the heavyweight counters, IHH Healthcare rose 20 sen to RM8.24. Tenaga Nasional slipped six sen to RM13.12, while Maybank, CIMB Group and Public Bank eased two sen to RM9.90, RM7.32 and RM4.20 respectively.
On the most active list, Aizo Group and Tanco Holdings added one sen each to 8.5 sen and 89 sen, and Pharmaniaga improved half-a-sen to 27 sen. Niche Capital and Zetrix AI edged edged up half-a-sen to 14.5 sen and 86 sen respectively.
Among the top gainers, Nestle advanced 40 sen to RM105.10, Malaysian Pacific Industries rose 18 sen to RM29.78, Hong Leong Bank added 12 sen to RM20.90. Tomei Consolidated and Petronas Dagangan gained 10 sen to RM2.08 and RM22.40 respectively.
Top decliners included Dutch Lady Milk Industries, which fell 20 sen to RM26.50, Petronas Gas declined 18 sen to RM18.82, Ajinomoto slipped 18 sen to RM13.62, Pentamaster eased 18 sen to RM4.00 and Frontken dropped 17 sen to RM4.61.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 37.52 points to 12,044.53, the FBMT 100 Index lost 31.87 points to 11,771.96, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 41.52 points to 12,120.28, the FBM 70 Index shed 55.11 points to 17,148.44 and the FBM ACE Index slipped six points to 5,369.76.
By sector, the Financial Services Index dipped 30.51 points to 18,191.90, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased 1.65 points to 171.98, and the Energy Index declined 2.34 points to 793.22.
Meanwhile, the Plantation Index rose 6.20 points to 7,867.43.
-- BERNAMA
