Bursa Malaysia Lower At Midday On Profit-taking

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower, dragged down by profit-taking in selected heavyweights amid a broadly weaker regional market performance following a Wall Street selloff overnight.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.23 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 1,532.15 from Friday’s close of 1,535.38.

The benchmark index opened 0.95 of-a-point higher at 1,536.33, and fluctuated between 1,530.75 and 1,537.27 throughout the morning session.

Market breadth was negative with 554 decliners and 248 gainers, while 429 counters were unchanged, 1,199 untraded and 42 suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.04 billion shares valued at RM792.32 million.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd in a note today said the FBM KLC is expected to remain choppy in the near term as investors stay cautious during the corporate earnings climax this week, compounded by renewed foreign net outflows.

“Sentiment is likely to stay soft amid rising fears that a tariff-driven global slowdown could undermine Malaysia’s economic momentum and corporate earnings.

“Caution is likely to persist until a clear and sustainable trade agreement is reached between the US and its key partners, including Malaysia,” it said.

The investment bank said sentiment was further dampened by concerns over widening US fiscal deficit, erratic US trade policies, and the US Federal Reserve’s data-dependent approach to interest rate decisions, all set against a backdrop of rising recession or stagflation risks.

“These macro uncertainties are expected to limit near-term upside and restrain risk appetite,” it added.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM9.88 and RM14 respectively, while Public Bank added three sen to RM4.43. CIMB and IHH Healthcare shed one sen each to RM6.93 and RM6.89, respectively.

As for active stocks, Harvest Miracle, OCR Group and Sapura Energy were flat at 18 sen, 3.5 sen and four sen, respectively, while Tanco Holdings added one sen to 98.5 sen and Velesto inched up half-a-sen to 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 36.24 points to 11,437.81, the FBMT 100 Index shaved 33.73 points to 11,199.36, and the FBM ACE Index went down 30.68 points to 4,585.26.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 55.35 points to 11,370.86 and the FBM 70 Index tumbled 89.43 points to 16,260.83. 

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index was 19.01 points better at 18,121.59, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.70 of-a-point to 153.34, the Energy Index eased 2.71 points to 708.06, and the Plantation Index increased 2.71 points to 7,333.02. 

-- BERNAMA