Bursa Malaysia Pares Gains To Head Lower At Midday

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia pared earlier gains to head into the midday break lower, with selling pressure seen across the board despite the release of positive third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures released at noon.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ) shed 4.60 points to 1,596.08 from yesterday’s close of 1,600.68. The benchmark index started the day 0.75 of a point higher at 1,601.43 and moved between 1,595.09 and 1,604.51 throughout the morning trading session. 

The market breadth was negative as decliners thumped gainers 523 to 290, while 471 counters were unchanged, 1,180 untraded and 28 suspended. Turnover stood at 1.67 billion shares valued at RM1.18 billion.

Bank Negara announced today that the Malaysian economy expanded by 5.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2024 (3Q 2024) following a 5.9 per cent expansion in the previous quarter, driven by strong investment activities and continued improvement in exports.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Malaysian stock market is less sensitive to economic data, unlike the United States. “The selling of local stocks happened amid regional weakness indicating that foreign funds may be opting out of Asia for now. But I hope the 3Q GDP figure will give investor confidence and push the market up,” he told Bernama.

Thong said he believes a swift rebound for the index will happen and expects it to hover within the 1,600-1,610 range today.

Among the heavyweight stocks, MISC trimmed 35 sen to RM7.60, MR DIY dived 17 sen to RM1.93 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong tumbled 56 sen to RM21.84. Maybank added four sen to RM10.34, and CIMB Group added one sen to RM8.21.

As for the active stocks, newly listed Metro Healthcare gained one sen to 26 sen, Bumi Armada bagged 2.5 sen to 52.5 sen while Cape EMS and Velesto Energy added half-a-sen each to 38.5 sen and 30 sen, respectively and 3REN slid 1.5 sen to 39 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 51.74 points to 12,058.11, the FBM Emas Index dropped 22.45 points to 12,122.99 and the FBMT 100 Index shed 21.32 points to 11,824.56.

The FBM ACE Index gave up 22.29 points to 5,107.30 while the FBM 70 Index gained 14.75 points to 17,815.03.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.16 of-a-point to 168.01, the Energy Index weakened 4.85 points to 822.44 and the Financial Services Index grew 68.10 points to 19,162.34. The Plantation Index declined 65.71 points to 7,7618.48.

-- BERNAMA