KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — Bursa Malaysia remained in negative territory at midday but pared early losses as investors sought bargains among index heavyweights after yesterday’s sharp selling.
At noon break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 4.72 points to 1,596.37 from yesterday’s close of 1,601.09, as intensified U.S-Sino trade war continued to dampen market sentiments, globally.
The index opened 20.24 points lower at 1,580.85.
Losers beat gainers 550 to 276 with 323 counters unchanged, 760 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.73 billion shares worth RM1.15 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank continued to be on an uptrend since yesterday, adding by 16 sen to close noon-break at RM22.48, Digi added eight sen to RM4.61, Hartalega went up 16 sen to RM4.99 and Nestle inched up RM1.50 to RM145.20.
RHB Bank was six sen higher at RM5.78 despite has been excluded from FTSE Russell’s FTSE Value-Stocks Asean Index together with Sime Darby Property and MISC.
Meanwhile, AirAsia and Petronas Chemicals are among the latest additions to the index.
Petronas Chemicals dropped three sen to RM8.81 and Maybank was two sen lower at RM8.96.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Ekovest was one sen higher at 85 sen, while Bumi Armada and Lambo added half-a-sen each to 19.5 sen and 7.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index declined 35.29 points to 11,239.25, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 35.39 points to 11,080.16 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 53.11 points to 11,355.99.
The FBM 70 weakened 54.81 points to 13,808.06 and the FBM Ace eased 47.10 points to 4,371.50.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 8.02 points to 16,524.76, the Plantation Index lost 112.75 points to 6,901.66 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 1.39 points weaker at 163.38. — Bernama
