KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 ― Bursa Malaysia finished the morning session broadly lower in tandem with regional bourses as risk appetite was clouded by weak market sentiment, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.25 points to 1,664.75 from yesterday’s close of 1,676.00 after moving between 1,661.30 and 1,671.73 throughout the session.
Losses in Tenaga dragged the composite index down by 2.423 points. The utility stock lost 24 sen to RM13.22 with 1.79 million shares changing hands.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 470 to 190, while 273 counters unchanged, 969 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Volume stood at 844.98 million units valued at RM563.49 million.
A dealer said Asian stocks were down on caution over the growth of world’s second largest economy following weaker-than-expected Chinese data.
It was reported that China’s industrial production growth contracted to 5.4 per cent in November, the lowest number since the start of 2016, while the country’s retail sales rose 8.1 per cent, the least in 15 years.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei slumped 1.58 per cent to 21,471.56, Singapore's Straits Times Index gave up 1.22 per cent for 3,073.14, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.37 per cent to 26,159.81.
Back home, among heavyweights, Maybank eased eight sen to RM9.36, Public Bank trimmed 24 sen to RM24.74, Petronas Chemicals and CIMB slipped three sen each to RM9.14 and RM5.81, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.60.
Of actives, Vortex inched down half-a-sen to nine sen, while Priceworth, Hubline and DBE Gurney were all flat at five sen, four sen and three sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was 73.02 points lower at 11,434.97, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 71.37 points to 11,332.37, the FBM 70 fell 62.77 points to 13,194.59, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 69.95 points to 11,385.22, while the FBM Ace Index dipped 90.91 points to 4,369.84.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index erased 114.55 points to 17,351.23, the Plantation Index declined 41.91 points to 6,656.63, and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.61 of-a-point to 167.17. ― Bernama
