KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower as cautious sentiment persisted and ahead of the release of several economic data scheduled for this week.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.67 of-a-point lower at 1,764.22 from yesterday’s close of 1,764.89.
After opening 0.5 of-a-point lower at 1,764.39, it moved between 1,762.43 and 1,767.4 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 564 to 205, with 362 counters unchanged, 642 untraded and 42 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.47 billion shares worth RM875.66 million.
A dealer said cautious sentiment would continue to cloud the market this week with the release of the data, including US jobs and Malaysia’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
“Furthermore, buying sentiment was also dampened following comments from US Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams, which sparked fresh concerns over rising interest rates.
“He said three interest-rate increases this year makes sense as the central bank takes gradual steps to tighten monetary policy and shrink its balance sheet to prevent the economy from overheating,” the dealer added.
Among heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank declined six sen to RM9.34, Public Bank added six sen to RM20.08, TNB rose four sen to RM13.76 and Sime Darby gained two sen to RM9.35.
Of actives, Hibiscus Petroleum rose six sen to 47 sen, Luster Industries eased one sen to 12.5 sen and Asia Bioenergy inched up half-a-sen to 6.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 24.41 points lower at 12,571.79, the FBMT 100 Index shed 21.28 points to 12,211.87 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 1.11 points to 12,848.42.
The FBM 70 was 88.62 points weaker at 14,944.76 and the FBM Ace fell 41.98 points to 6,226.1.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was down 21.99 points to 8,028.24 and the Finance Index declined 53.41 points for 16,382.72. But, the Industrial Index increased 21.43 points to 3,268.14. — Bernama
