Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Lower Amid Cautious Risk Appetite
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the red following overnight weakness on Wall Street, as elevated oil prices, higher US Treasury yields and a US rate hike held risk appetite back.
At 12.30 pm, the FBM KLCI eased 3.30 points to 1,675.91 from Tuesday’s close of 1,679.21 points.
The benchmark index, which opened 1.71 points lower at 1,677.50, moved between 1,675.42 and 1,684.92 during the session.
Decliners led gainers in the broader market, with 650 losers against 380 gainers. A total of 487 counters were unchanged, 1,339 untraded and 13 suspended. Turnover stood at 1.98 billion shares worth RM1.49 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street is set to trade on a mixed footing going forward as investors digest the US Federal Reserve's 25 basis points rate hike and hawkish inflation commentary. “While a measured tightening path could provide some relief to growth valuations, elevated oil prices remain an inflationary risk,” it said in a research note today.
The Fed raised rates on Wednesday for the first time in more than three years and indicated that further tightening was likely.
Among heavyweight counters, Maybank lost two sen to RM10.40, and Public Bank was one sen higher at RM4.81. CIMB was five sen lower at RM7.75, Tenaga Nasional dropped six sen to RM13.26, and IHH Healthcare was four sen lower at RM7.67.
For the top active counters, Zetrix AI dipped half a sen to 25 sen, while AirAsia went down 11 sen to 53 sen, and Capital A was four sen lower at 23.5 sen.
ACE Market debutant Pioneer Heat was 7.5 sen higher at 32.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Nestle jumped 72 sen to RM90.90, while IOI Properties gained 14 sen to RM3.79.
MN Holdings and Batu Kawan were 12 sen higher at RM3.66 and RM20.28, respectively, while UMS Integration and Heng Yuan Refinery’s warrant both added 11 sen each to RM8.10 and RM2.83.
Of the top losers, F&N slipped 26 sen to RM22.86, Hong Leong Industries was 24 sen lower at RM16.82, and Petronas Chemicals lost 22 sen to RM4.98. Panasonic slipped 21 sen to RM5.35, and Malaysian Pacific Industries was 20 sen lower at RM39.50.
On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index slipped 60.05 points to 17,555.60, the FBM Emas Index fell 31.88 points to 12,412.05, and the FBM Top 100 Index erased 28.55 points to 12,216.25.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 45.97 points to 12,256.45, while the FBM ACE Index fell 4.70 points to 5,165.25.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.26 points to 185.14, the Financial Services Index slid 47.88 points to 19,599.52, and the Energy Index lost 3.61 points to 817.77.
The Plantation Index weakened 11.16 points to 9,515.04.
-- BERNAMA