BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS MORNING SESSION LOWER

KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed the morning session lower due to profit-taking activities across most key index-related counters, following a higher close on Friday.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 17.24 points to 1,619.31 from Friday's close of 1,636.55.

The index opened 0.57 of-a-point higher at 1,637.12 and fluctuated between 1,616.74 and 1,637.12 during the morning session.

In the broader market, 1,151 fallers outnumbered 169 gainers. Meanwhile, 309 counters remained unchanged, 819 were untraded and 16 were suspended. 

Total turnover amounted to 3.57 billion units valued at RM1.90 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said profit-taking activities emerged locally following the negative overnight performance on Wall Street.

"However, we believe this consolidation phase could be healthy for investors looking for buy-on-dip opportunities, targeting stocks within the construction, utilities, building materials and property sectors amid the ongoing data centre catalysts.

"We also favour selected stocks in the shipping sector amid the ongoing Red Sea tension, as well as the consumer, oil and gas, and telco sectors," it said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional each fell 4.0 sen to RM10.06 and RM14.40, respectively. 

CIMB Group and IHH Healthcare each declined 6.0 sen to RM7.09 and RM6.27, respectively, while Public Bank dropped 2.0 sen to RM4.22.

Among the actives, ACE Market debutant BWYS Group increased 14.0 sen to 36 sen, and Hubline Bhd remained flat at 10 sen. 

Sapura Energy decreased by half a sen to 4.0 sen, Ekovest Bhd was down 1.5 sen to 55 sen, and JAKS Resources declined by 1.0 sen to 18 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 142.84 points to 12,516.42, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 134.14 points to 12,098.28, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 172.18 points to 12,864.92.

The FBM 70 Index declined 225.53 points to 18,602.48, while the FBM ACE Index shed 76.63 points to 5,857.58.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 84.75 points to 17,888.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index dropped 2.60 points to 194.42, and the Energy Index decreased 15.19 points to 960.40. 

Concurrently, the Consumer Products and Services Index fell 7.50 points to 588.33, the Construction Index declined 7.32 points to 307.38, the Technology Index slid 1.11 points to 76.01, and the Plantation Index dropped 38.49 points to 7,186.36.

-- BERNAMA