KL shares continue to trade weak at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia continued to trade weak at mid-morning today on profit-taking consolidation, dealers said.

At 11.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,688.54, down 2.53 points against yesterday’s close of 1,691.07 points.

It opened 6.32 points lower at 1,684.75.

The dealer said stocks are likely to ease into profit-taking consolidation as investors await fresh leads to sustain any upward momentum.

The FBM Emas Index declined 16.45 points to 11,849.97, the FBMT100 Index erased 16.34 points to 11,558.49 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 13.87 points lower at 12,494.12.

The FBM Ace fell 46.11 points to 5,488.7 and the FBM 70 edged down 15.649 points to 13,652.24.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index eased 17.48 points to 14,481.22 and the Industrial Index declined 3.47 points to 3,179.19.But, the Plantation Index was 5.53 points better at 7,864.39.

Losers outpaced gainers 340 to 230, while 319 counters were unchanged, 799 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 605.42 million shares worth RM249.92 million.

Of the heavyweights, TNB, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals lost two sen each to RM14.78, RM19.78 and RM6.66 respectively and IHH eased one sen to RM6.67.

Maybank was flat at RM7.99.

Among actives, AirAsia X increased half a sen to 47.5 sen, while Iris declined one sen to 18.5 sen and M3 Technologies slipped half a sen to 10 sen.

Dagang Nexchange and Metronic were flat at 24.5 sen and eight sen respectively. — Bernama