KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session mixed in cautious trading as traders remained on the sidelines.
At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 2.4 points at 1,724.46 after moving between 1,722.59 and 1,727.30 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 329 to 279, while 291 counters were unchanged, 915 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 718.89 million shares worth RM675.23 million.
TA Securities said with worries over potential ratings downgrade by Fitch at month-end and persistent foreign selling pressure, the local market could hover at current depressed levels, pending local upside catalysts.
It said the immediate support was at the 1,716-points psychological level, followed by stronger support at 1,700 while the resistance level stood at 1,733 points, with the next level at 1,750.
On heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM9.24, Axiata gained one sen to RM6.49, TNB lost four sen to RM13.12, Sime Darby shed two sen to RM8.58 while Public was flat at RM18.78.
AirAsia remained the most actively traded stock in the morning session, with its shares 13 sen higher at RM1.66, followed by Bintai warrant (A) which rose six sen to 12 sen and Nexgram gained one sen to 11 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index slid 0.32 of a point to 11,924.48, the FBM Emas Shariah fell 1.99 points to 12,406.75, the FBMT100 Index shed 4.13 points to 11,619.24 while the FBM 70 improved 41.35 points to 13,057.28.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 15.07 points at 15,559.87 but the Plantation Index weakened 20.04 points to 7,227.57 and the Industrial Index decreased 8.54 points to 3,170.82. — Bernama
