KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today as losses in selected heavyweights weighed down the local index.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was at 1,692.89, down 1.43 points against yesterday's close of 1,694.32 points.
It opened 1.33 points easier at 1,692.99 at 9 am, and hovered between 1,690.44 and 1,694.32 throughout the morning trading session.
Losers outpaced gainers 398 to 312, while 357 counters were unchanged, 622 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.67 billion shares worth RM840.2 million.
HLIB Research said the FBM KLCI daily and weekly slow stochastic indicators have turned increasingly overbought, signalling potential profit-taking pullback in the coming days.
“Key supports are at 1,684 and 1,675. However, we only expect a mild consolidation amid the bullish weekly indicators.
“We remain positive that the index will break 1,700 decisively after a brief consolidation to test 1,716, 1729 and 1,739 in the long-term,” it said in a note.
Of the heavyweights, TNB and Public Bank eased two sen each to RM14.78 and RM19.82 respectively, while Maybank and IHH were flat at RM8.01 and RM6.69.
Among actives were AirAsia X, which added 2.5 sen to 48.5 sen, Vivocom rising half-a-sen to 30 sen and TH Heavy improving 1.5 sen to 20 sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 8.66 points to 11,885.87, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 16.43 points to 12,532.49 and the FBMT100 Index declined 5.42 points to 11,854.39.
The FBM 70 was up 9.66 points to 13,668.69 and the FBM Ace inched up 15.28 points to 5,615.49.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 10.02 points lower at 14,531.82 and the Industrial Index declined 11.53 points to 3,183.31.But, the Plantation Index gained 53.63 points to 7,791.5. ― Bernama
