Bursa Malaysia In Negative Territory At Midday
By Zufazlin Baharuddin
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia was in negative territory at midday amid lacklustre trading despite most regional markets performing positively.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.21 points to 1,571.91 from last Friday’s close of 1,575.12.
The benchmark index, which opened 1.74 points higher at 1,576.86, moved between 1,561.36 and 1,576.91 during the morning session.
In the broader market, decliners beat gainers 724 to 271, while 413 counters were unchanged, with 1,131 untraded and 7 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.88 billion units worth RM1.40 billion.
At the time of writing, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index gained 0.31 per cent to 42,320.61, Indonesia's IDX Composite Index rose 1.16 per cent to 7,824.58, South Korea’s Kospi Index increased 0.94 per cent to 3,172.27, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index strengthened 0.43 per cent to 4,294.57.
Meanwhile Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.61 per cent to 25,460.16 and China’s SSE Composite Index shed 0.79 per cent to 3,844.84.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI failed to sustain its upward momentum as selling pressure emerged ahead of the long weekend. As a result, the index fell below the 1,580 level.
“Nonetheless, we believe a swift rebound should occur as we expect the market undertone to still be strong. For today, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,575-1,590 range,” he told Bernama.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank advanced 16 sen to RM10.06, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare inched up one sen each to RM4.28 and RM6.80 respectively, CIMB Group dropped 19 sen to RM7.24, and Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM13.20.
As for the actively traded counters, Ekovest decreased 2.5 sen to 35 sen, Tanco Holdings trimmed one sen to 69.5 sen, and PUC edged down half-a-sen to 20 sen, while NexG and TWL added half-a-sen each to 49.5 sen and 3.0 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index ticked down 38.65 points to 11,664.23, the FBMT 100 Index erased 36.45 points to 11,438.12, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 50.10 points to 11,598.98.
The FBM Mid 70 Index gave up 110.24 points to 16,366.0, and the FBM ACE Index lost 45.08 points to 4,676.94.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 18.36 points to 18,129.38, while the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 1.34 points to 160.88, the Plantation Index was 18.14 points lower at 7,576.31, and the Energy Index retreated 5.82 points to 734.40.
-- BERNAMA