KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today on mild profit-taking, dealers said. At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.8 points to 1,824.68, after hovering between 1,824.37 and 1,828.23 through the session.
A dealer said profit-taking emerged after a recent rally spurred by short-term gains in sentiment amid better outlook in Europe and continued inflows of funds into the region. He said the local bourse also tracked the less impressive performance of Asian stocks as the exodus in foreign funds continued and local investors positioned themselves for short-term investment in small caps and penny stocks instead of blue chips.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index fell 8.568 points to 16,566.21, the Plantation Index dropped 17.189 points to 8,593.37 and the Industrial Index eased 1.39 points to 3,105.29. The FBM Emas Index lost 10.52 points for 12,628.9, the FBMT100 Index dropped 14.01 points for 12,298.42, and the FBM Ace slipped 0.4 of a point to 6,421.58, while the FBM 70 gained 3.26 points to 13,834.12.
Losers outnumbered gainers by 408 to 302, with 315 counters unchanged, 591 untraded and 26 others suspended. Turnover totalled 1.7 billion shares worth RM1.07 billion.
Among actives, Sumatec added 1 sen to 33.5 sen, Scomi advanced 4 sen to 49 sen and Zelan earned 2 sen to 24.5 sen. Minetech lost 1.5 sen to 30 sen and PDZ Holdings slipped 1 sen to 12.5 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank, CIMB and Sime Darby were flat at RM9.75, RM7.10 and RM8.99 respectively. TNB lost 4 sen to RM12.14 and Axiata slipped 1 sen to RM6.54. — Bernama
