Bursa Malaysia Key Index Remains Slightly Lower At Midday On Selling Pressure
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s key index remained slightly lower at midday today, dragged by continued selling in selected heavyweight stocks, particularly in the financial services sector.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.44 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1,610.41 from Tuesday’s close of 1,611.85.
The benchmark index opened 2.64 points higher at 1,614.49 and traded between 1,609.44 and 1,615.87 during the morning session.
However, in the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 575 to 353, while 458 counters were unchanged, 1,481 remained untraded and 104 were suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.96 billion units worth RM1.09 billion.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd said it expects the FBM KLCI to remain in risk-off consolidation.
“Externally, Wall Street may stay choppy amid a packed US mega-cap earnings week, the Federal Reserve decision, Nov 3 midterm elections and lingering US-Iran tensions.
“Domestically, third quarter of 2026 (3Q 2026) earnings uncertainty and institutional rebalancing ahead of the FBM KLCI’s phased expansion from 30 to 50 constituents add pressure,” it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank and IHH Healthcare slid two sen each to RM9.97 and RM7.82, respectively, Public Bank shed four sen to RM4.71, Tenaga Nasional declined 10 sen to RM13.20 and CIMB lost one sen to RM7.10.
In active trade, Zetrix AI and Top Glove inched up half a sen each to nine sen and 97 sen, respectively. VS Industry rose one sen to 35.5 sen, while Landmarks added 1.5 sen to 5.5 sen.
Nestle led the top gainers, adding RM2.76 to RM97.04, while Malaysian Pacific Industries added RM1.00 to RM42.30, Fraser & Neave gained 32 sen to RM20.00, ViTrox rose 26 sen to RM11.08 and MI Technovation improved 25 sen to RM7.00.
Among the top losers, United Plantations lost 56 sen to RM29.14, Hong Leong Industries slid 34 sen to RM16.16, Batu Kawan shed 20 sen to RM19.10, while Westports and Telekom Malaysia lost 19 sen each to RM6.89 and RM7.86, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 8.70 points to 12,047.99, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 3.85 points to 11,838.38, the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 65.97 points to 17,436.09, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 8.59 points higher at 12,058.32 and the FBM ACE Index went up 64.12 points to 5,482.75.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.27 points to 178.18, and the Energy Index increased 0.45 of a point to 846.19, while the Financial Services Index slid 34.83 points to 18,566.20 and the Plantation Index shed 18.16 points to 8,636.10.
-- BERNAMA