Bursa Malaysia Lower At Midday, Tracking Regional Weakness
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia slipped at midday today amid cautious trading sentiment, in line with weakness across most regional markets.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.40 points to 1,582.56 from Thursday's close of 1,585.96.
The benchmark index opened 0.47 of a point lower at 1,585.49 and moved between 1,581.55 and 1,588.10 during the morning session.
Market breadth remained negative, with 541 losers outnumbering 294 gainers. A total of 468 counters were unchanged, while 2,784 remained untraded and 16 were suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.59 billion units worth RM948.03 million.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.88 per cent to 5,236.06, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.92 per cent to 23,786.48, and South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index slid 0.76 per cent to 5,302.08.
In contrast, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index added 0.22 per cent to 3,663.71 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.87 per cent to 61,350.99.
Overnight, US Wall Street came under renewed selling pressure as Nvidia’s leadership crisis intensified, triggering a sharp reassessment of risk across the artificial intelligence investment ecosystem.
Nvidia announced on Nov 12 that its co-founder Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer and board member with immediate effect.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors will also be tracking Friday’s US producer price index (PPI) data as the US 10-year Treasury yield rises to 5.13 per cent.
Among heavyweight stocks, CIMB fell four sen to RM7.05, Tenaga Nasional lost 18 sen to RM12.62, Public Bank was unchanged at RM4.53, while IHH Healthcare climbed 10 sen to RM7.94, and Maybank was one sen higher at RM9.92.
In active trade, MMAG shaved off half a sen to 3.5 sen, CHB Engineering Holding sank 14 sen to 68 sen, V.S Industry edged down one sen to 27.5 sen, while Zetrix AI and Nexgram were flat both at 5.5 sen respectively.
Among the top gainers, United Plantations rose 16 sen to RM31.76, P.I.E Industrial gained 18 sen to RM1.68, Sarawak Oil Palms added 14 sen to RM5.45, Hengyuan Refining Company advanced 13 sen to RM2.73, and Master-Pack jumped 13 sen to RM1.55.
UMS Integration led the decliners, falling 34 sen to RM6.86. Sunway Construction dipped 33 sen to RM7.74, Allianz Malaysia erased 30 sen to RM19.16, while Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Dutch Lady Milk Industries gave up 22 sen each to RM21.16 and RM28.28 respectively.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index fell 25.02 points to 11,763.07 and the FBM Top 100 Index declined 25.38 points to 11,593.87.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 31.47 points to 11,741.79, the FBM ACE Index slid 76.49 points to 5,110.42, and the FBM Mid 70 Index slipped 38.79 points to 16,909.78.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 23.27 points to 18,433.52, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.33 of a point to 170.69, the Plantation Index was down 22.13 points to 8,897.14, while the Energy Index rose 1.18 points to 783.00.
-- BERNAMA