Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Lower On Profit-taking

By Zarul Effendi Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session easier, driven by profit taking in selected telecommunications and media, as well as construction counters, amid weaker sentiment in regional markets, said an analyst.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed five points to 1,585.24 from Tuesday’s close of 1,590.24.

The benchmark index opened 2.21 points lower at 1,588.03 and moved between 1,584.01 and 1,590.39 throughout the morning trading session.

The market breadth was negative, with 586 decliners thumping 268 gainers, while 473 counters were unchanged, 1,267 untraded, and 16 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.42 billion units worth RM1.03 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, said the local benchmark index is expected to hover within the 1,585-1,600 range today, amid cautious global sentiment.

“Wall Street ended broadly lower overnight as traders remained focused on the US Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole summit over the next few days. Nonetheless, the sell-down in tech stocks was sharp as many deemed the sector was due to take a breather following a decent rally,” he told Bernama today.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank was flat at RM9.80, IHH Healthcare added three sen to RM6.88, and Tenaga Nasional dropped four sen to RM13.68. Public Bank and CIMB slipped one sen each to RM4.45 and RM7.38, respectively.

Among the most active counters, Vantris Energy eased half a sen to 3.5 sen, Zetrix AI trimmed two sen to 3.5 sen, while Tanco and TWL Holdings were flat at 73 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.

Across the broader market, the FBM Emas Index lost 44.50 points to 11,767.91, the FBMT 100 Index declined 45.22 points to 11,552.43, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 59.15 points to 11,672.25. The FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 103.75 points to 16,602.22, and the FBM ACE Index fell 33.79 points to 4,675.90.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 27.57 points to 18,157.93, the Plantation Index trimmed 27.55 points to 7,518.93, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.05 of a point to 159.07.

The Energy Index slipped 1.46 points to 748.76.

-- BERNAMA