Bursa Malaysia Remains Lower At Midday As Oil Price Surge Weighs
By Zufazlin Baharuddin
KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday, tracking the downbeat performance of regional peers amid dented sentiment from a surge in crude oil prices, with Brent crude hovering above US$100 per barrel at noon (US$1=RM3.91).
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 5.77 points to 1,703.01 from yesterday’s close of 1,708.78.
The benchmark opened 8.09 points lower at 1,700.69 and moved between 1,694.80 and 1,704.83 during the morning session.
Market breadth was negative, with 563 losers outnumbering 349 gainers. A total of 473 counters were unchanged, 1,282 untraded, and 17 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.61 billion shares valued at RM1.64 billion.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.23 per cent to 25,579.95, Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 1.51 per cent to 54,192.86, and South Korea’s KOSPI retreated 0.84 per cent to 5,562.75, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.68 per cent to 4,830.96.
At the time of writing, Brent crude had risen 9.63 per cent to US$100.80 per barrel.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan told Bernama that Asian markets traded lower, as higher crude oil prices continued to influence market sentiment.
The crude oil prices surged following tanker attacks in Iraqi waters amid the US-Iran conflict.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank added five sen to RM4.80, IHH Healthcare edged up nine sen to RM9.08, while Maybank slid one sen to RM11.46, CIMB and TNB were down two sen each to RM7.98 and RM14.22, respectively.
On the most active list, ACE Market debutant OGX Group lost half-a-sen to 34.5 sen, AirAsia X increased three sen to RM1.23, Lotte Chemical Titan Holdings added five sen to 46.5 sen, Hengyuan Refining Company and Zetrix AI gained 10 sen each to RM1.66 and 75 sen, respectively.
Top gainers included Petronas Chemicals, up 29 sen to RM4.43; United Plantations, up 38 sen to RM32.02; Nestlé, up 80 sen to RM103.70; PPB Group, up 28 sen to RM11.28; and Batu Kawan, up 24 sen to RM19.80.
Top losers were Malaysian Pacific Industries, down 74 sen to RM29.24; Pineapple Resources, down 22 sen to 60 sen; MISC, down 12 sen to RM8.38; Pentamaster Corp, down 18 sen to RM2.90; and Hong Leong Bank, down 24 sen to RM22.84.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index fell 40.52 points to 12,285.79, the FBM Emas Index declined 41.46 points to 12,442.68, the FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 51.27 points to 17,111.16, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 17.66 points to 12,145.88, and the FBM ACE Index fell 49.02 points to 4,355.66.
By sector, the Financial Services Index fell 172.35 points to 20,600.96, while the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.07 points to 174.51, the Plantation Index rose 53.69 points to 8,436.52, and the Energy Index increased 4.30 points to 800.74.
-- BERNAMA