Bursa Malaysia Lower At Midday On Broad-based Selling, Cautious Sentiment
By Harizah Hanim Mohamed and Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained easier at midday, with broad-based selling seen throughout the morning trading session.
The benchmark index’s performance also reflected cautious sentiment in the market ahead of the United States Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting on Sept 15-16.
At 12.30 pm, the FBM KLCI eased 12.44 points to 1,685.57 from Monday’s close of 1,698.01.
The benchmark index, which opened 3.10 points lower at 1,694.91, moved between 1,683.38 and 1,694.91 during the session.
Market breadth was subdued with losers outpacing gainers 628 to 315. A total of 522 counters were unchanged, 1,378 untraded and 13 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.36 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that plantation and energy sectors are benefiting from the higher crude oil prices, which could also drive up prices of other commodities.
Among the plantation-related counters, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 36 sen to RM22.86, IOI Corporation added one sen to RM4.94, United Plantations gained 40 sen to RM33.50 and Sarawak Oil Palms was 18 sen better at RM6.39.
Energy-related counters MISC and Yinson advanced 10 sen each to RM7.91 and RM2.10, respectively, while Gas Malaysia and Solarvest were both seven sen better at RM5 and RM3.27, respectively.
As for heavyweights, Maybank remained unchanged at RM10.46 and CIMB added three sen to RM7.80, while Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.84, Tenaga Nasional reduced 20 sen to RM13.44 and IHH Healthcare shed six sen to RM7.70.
Top active counters Zetrix AI was one sen higher at 25.5 sen, ACE Market debutante Butterfield slid seven sen to 41 sen and Top Glove reduced 1.5 sen to 81.5 sen, while MQ Technology and Ni Hsin were flat at 5.5 sen and 29 sen, respectively.
Among the top gainers, Fraser & Neave jumped 26 sen to RM23.50, Westports raked in 11 sen to RM6.83 and AMMB was nine sen higher at RM6.74.
Of the top losers, Nestle weakened 32 sen to RM90.98, while both Malaysian Pacific Industries and Dutch Lady Milk were 24 sen lower at RM39.76 and RM31, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index inched down 74.52 points to 17,615.56, and the FBM ACE Index weakened 39.86 points to 5,175.77.
The FBM Emas Index slid 79.10 points to 12,480.81, the FBM Top 100 Index erased 80.89 points to 12,279.45, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 79.52 points to 12,333.24.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 2.13 points to 187.07 and the Financial Services Index slid 81.23 points to 19,710.34, while the Energy Index gained 5.54 points to 820.46 and the Plantation Index strengthened 91.05 points to 9,587.78.
The local bourse will be closed tomorrow for the Malaysia Day public holiday and will resume trading on Thursday.
-- BERNAMA