KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia remained lower in the morning session with finance and consumer stocks leading the top losers list today.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was slightly lower by 4.41 points at 1,713.79, after hovering between 1,712.32 and 1,716.46 in the morning session.
Losers outpaced gainers 473 to 241 with 290 counters unchanged, 822 untraded and 32 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.06 billion shares worth RM735.27 million.
Among top losers were Hong Leong Financial (-26 sen to RM14.72), followed by PPB Group (-22 sen to RM15.58) and Nestle (-16 sen to RM71.46).
For the heavyweights, Maybank eased a sen to RM8.63 while Public Bank and Tenaga added two sen each to RM18.72 and RM12.82, respectively, and Axiata appreciated a sen to RM6.41.
Among the actives, AirAsia declined five sen to RM1.52, The Media Shoppe added half-a-sen to 11 sen while 1 Utopia and APFT were flat at four sen and 24 sen, respectively.
Kenanga Research said on a technical front, the benchmark index was poised for further consolidation underpinned by the overbought situation.
“Hence, we reiterate our view that the FBM KLCI will continue to trade sideways within 1,680-1,720 this week with downside-bias, while we look towards the upcoming Budget 2016 announcement for more light on the market direction.
“Nevertheless, the only positives that led the local bourse to hold above its 1,700 level were the better regional market performances fuelled by the upbeat US commodity prices and jobless claims data that eased concerns over the US economy,” it said in a note.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index fell 65.08 points to 14,690.91, the Industrial Index eased 8.12 points to 3,342.48 and the Plantation Index decreased 3.6 points to 7,512.63.
The FBM Emas Index edged down 25.37 points to 11,799.18, the FBMT100 Index was down 24.0 points to 11,503.08, the FBM Ace was 33.28 points lower at 6,069.52 and the FBM 70 lost 5.93 points to 12,762.23. — Bernama
