KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped into negative territory at mid-morning today, dragged down by selling in selected heavyweights.
At 11.04am, the key index fell 3.23 points to 1,645.42, after opening 1.46 points better at 1,650.11.
Losers led gainers 316 to 237, with 284 counters unchanged, 935 untraded and 29 others suspended.
Turnover was at 448.32 million shares worth RM408.80 million.
A Hong Leong Investment Bank dealer said KLCI component stocks stayed weak, with the ringgit dragged down by the strong US dollar and low crude oil prices.
“The local market on Friday is likely to remain in the red territory after the KLCI penetrated below the support level of 1,651 yesterday, and it is expected to break below 1644 today,” he added.
Among the top losers were Tenaga and Batu Kawan, which both declined 20 sen to RM13.02 and RM17.10 respectively, UMW Holdings (-17 sen to RM7.65), Latitude Tree (-11 sen to RM7.39) and MWE Holdings (-11 sen to RM1.44).
Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased four sen to RM8.37, Public Bank shed two sen to RM18.22, while Petronas Chemicals and Axiata were flat at RM6.68 and RM606 respectively.
Among actives, Red Sena and Eden Inc added a sen each to 38.5 sen and 26.5 sen respectively, Instacom gained half-a-sen to 28.5 sen, Efficient E-Solution improved two sen to 34 sen and Red Sena warrant was flat at eight sen.
On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index fell 25.25 points to 11,486.27, the FBMT100 Index decreased 23.68 points to 11,163.74 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 45.10 points to 12,354.81.
The FBM 70 slid 33.51 points to 12,827.86, but the FBM Ace gained 25.34 points to 6,446.11.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was higher by 13.99 points for 3,210.73, the Plantation Index added 20.21 points to 7,378.90 but the Finance Index dropped 24.65 points to 14,083.10. — Bernama
