KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) remained in negative territory at mid-morning today, dragged down by selling in selected heavyweights.
At 11am, the key index lost 11.76 points to 1,628.38.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 647 to 101, with 205 counters unchanged, 809 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover was at 683.24 million shares worth RM403.98 million.
A dealer said the KLCI component stocks stayed weak on the declining local currency versus the US dollar and low crude oil prices.
“The local market today and maybe for this week will likely trade in the red territory amid speculation over the US Federal Reserve’s decision on a US interest rate hike and low oil prices,” the dealer said.
The US Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet for two days beginning Dec 15 to discuss its lending rate.
Among the top losers were Panasonic which fell RM1.40 to RM23.00, BAT (-84 sen to RM56.16), Petronas Dagangan (-30 sen to RM24.28) and Dutch Lady (-28 sen to RM47.50).
Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased seven sen to RM8.26, TNB slipped 14 sen to RM13, Public Bank went down four sen to RM18.20 and Axiata was nine sen lower at RM5.99.
Among actives, Red Sena and XOX fell one sen each to 39 sen and 18.5 sen respectively, while Asia Media was flat at 2.5 sen.
On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index contracted 87.66 points to 11,352.04, the FBMT100 Index decreased 103.53 points to 12,623.41 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 104.22 points to 12,202.19.
The FBM 70 weakened 103.53 points to 12,623.41, while the FBM Ace gave up 139.53 points to 6,288.01.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was lower by 32.07 points for 3,150.38, the Finance Index dropped 81.90 points to 13,934.89 but the Plantation Index inched up 1.93 points to 7,354.58. — Bernama
