Bursa Malaysia Edges Lower At Midday, CI Hits Intra-Day Low

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday, with the benchmark index touching an intra-day low after a choppy trading session in selected heavyweights amid a mixed regional performance.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 1.49 points to 1,577.03 from yesterday’s close of 1,578.52.

The index opened 1.40 points higher at 1,579.92, and later inched up to 1,581.89 during the morning session.

In the broader market, decliners beat gainers 475 to 313, while 475 counters were unchanged, with 1,295 untraded and seven suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.40 billion units worth RM1.08 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI showed sporadic buying interest but failed to sustain a meaningful uptrend.

Nonetheless, the benchmark index managed to close modestly higher on Wednesday ahead of another long weekend starting Friday.

“As such, we expect the index to trend within the 1,575-1,585 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, IHH Healthcare slid one sen to RM6.90, Public Bank was flat at RM4.26, while Maybank added four sen to RM10.02, CIMB Group added one sen to RM7.24, and Tenaga Nasional climbed two sen to RM13.12.

In active trade, Sime Darby eased one sen to RM2.05, Eco-Shop Marketing declined three sen to RM1.34, Zetrix AI and DneX were unchanged at 87 sen and 24.5 sen respectively, while Tanco Holdings improved one sen to 81 sen.

On the broader index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 16.48 points to 11,710.05, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 16.13 points to 11,479.39, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 26.49 points to 11,681.13.

The FBM 70 Index lost 46.54 points to 16,442.86, while the FBM ACE Index was 14.25 points lower at 4,739.84.

By sector, the Financial Services Index edged up 3.06 points to 18,075.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 0.61 of a point to 162.88, the Energy Index shed 3.43 points to 746.49, and the Plantation Index eased 1.43 points to 7,604.46.

-- BERNAMA