Bursa Malaysia Stays Lower At Midday

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday, weighed by cautious investor sentiment despite Wall Street's robust performance overnight.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 9.26 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 1,624.91 from Wednesday’s close of 1,634.17.

The benchmark index opened 1.97 points higher at 1,636.14 and moved between 1,623.30 and 1,639.55 during the morning session.

The market breadth was also negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 633 to 359 while 463 counters were unchanged, 951 untraded, and 10 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.31 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that given Wall Street’s strong overnight performance, it believes the 'Trump Trade' could spill over into the local bourse, particularly benefitting the technology sector in the near term.

“While we anticipate the oil and gas sector may trade flat due to current crude oil prices, we maintain a positive view on glove stocks as the ringgit is likely to depreciate in the near term following Donald Trump’s victory.

“Additionally, we favour the construction, building materials, property, and utilities sectors as we enter the corporate earnings season,” it added.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group gained 5.0 sen to RM8.25 and IHH Healthcare rose 2.0 sen to RM7.28 while Public Bank dipped 2.0 sen to RM4.47, Maybank slipped 2.0 sen to RM10.58, and Tenaga Nasional declined 8.0 sen to RM14.30.

Among the actives, 3Ren advanced 5.5 sen to 45.0 sen, Inari Amertron rose 20.0 sen to RM3.19, and Cape EMS climbed 1.0 sen to 37.5 sen. 

Meanwhile, Top Glove fell 5.0 sen to RM1.11 and Genetec Technology eased 1.0 sen to 94.0 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index declined 69.82 points to 12,010.95, the FBM Emas Index fell 71.58 points to 12,309.24, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 85.85 points to 12,270.36, the FBM 70 Index slid 109.48 points to 17,996.01, and FBM ACE Index sank 55.78 points to 5,129.97.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 18.20 points to 19,308.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.19 points to 174.29, the Energy Index dipped 7.10 points to 829.09, and the Plantation Index edged down 12.87 points to 7,599.07.

The Technology Index increased 0.96 of-a-point to 62.63.

-- BERNAMA