Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Trade Easier, CI Down 6.23 Pts

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in negative mode, in sync with most regional bourses, following hotter-than-expected United States (US) inflation data which is likely to delay potential rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 6.23 points to 1,596.82, compared to yesterday’s close of 1,603.05.

The market barometer opened 1.07 points lower at 1,601.98 and subsequently moved between 1,592.20 and 1,605.48.

Losers outpaced gainers 517 to 325, while 442 counters were unchanged, 1,034 untraded and 23 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.52 billion units worth RM1.03 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng noted that US January's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.5 per cent, marking the largest increase since August 2023, while core CPI climbed 0.4 per cent, dimming hopes for further policy easing before September this year.

The inflationary pressure contributed to a lower close for Wall Street, while the US Treasury 10-year yield spiked to 4.62 per cent, he said.

Back home, banking heavyweights led the list of laggards, with CIMB declining 11 sen to RM8.29, Maybank losing four sen to RM10.56 and Hong Leong Bank weaker by 20 sen to RM20.44.

At the same time, SD Guthrie lost 10 sen to RM4.88 and IHH reduced six sen to RM7.22.

Among the active counters, Ingenieur Gudang and Aizo were unchanged at 5.5 sen and 12 sen, respectively.

Silver Ridge slid two sen to 55.5 sen, RGB International added two sen to 45.5 sen and Harvest Miracle fell half-a-sen to 15.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 40.26 points to 12,151.86, the FBMT 100 Index shaved 38.98 points to 11,856.38 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 28.08 points to 11,949.92.

The FBM 70 Index decreased by 30.45 points to 17,949.84 and the FBM ACE Index dwindled by 9.50 points to 5,207.81.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 114.52 points to 19,319.88, the Plantation Index was 29.21 points weaker at 7,487.33 and the Energy Index sank 3.53 points to 814.74.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.27 of-a-point to 164.54.

-- BERNAMA