KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Bursa Malaysia stayed lower at mid-afternoon on continued selling activities.
At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 2.79 points to 1,608.64, dragged down mainly by Tenaga, Malaysia Airports and Hartalega
The index opened 2.21 points weaker at 1,609.22 from yesterday’s 1,611.43.
Losers outpaced gainers 438 to 236 with 322 counters unchanged, 915 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.33 billion shares worth RM859.99 million.
An analyst said Malaysia’s latest economic growth data had minimal impact on the equity market as it was already priced in.
Bank Negara Malaysia today announced 4.5 per cent economic growth in the first quarter of 2019.
It also gave an assurance that the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund’s decision to drop emerging market bonds from the benchmark index it tracks will not have a significant impact on Malaysia, thanks to the country’s big pool of domestic institutional investors.
Overall, the market’s undertone was still cautious, undermined by the escalating US-China trade spat.
Among the heavyweights, Tenaga was eight sen lower at RM11.70, Malaysia Airports dropped 17 sen to RM7.12 and Hartalega went down 11 sen to RM5.15.
Axiata and Maxis bagged two sen each to RM4.44 and RM5.34 respectively.
Petronas Gas and Petronas Dagangan continued to benefit from the rally in oil prices, gaining six sen and 10 sen to RM16.70 and RM24.50 respectively.
Of the actively-traded stocks, newly-listed Leong Hup International increased one sen to RM1.11, Vortex was up one sen at 28.5 sen and Lambo was half-a-sen lower at seven sen.
The FBM Emas Index lost 17.35 points to 11,335.82, the FBMT 100 Index fell 15.85 points to 11,171.04 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 21.71 points to 11,504.01.
The FBM 70 went down 5.45 points to 13,944.69 and the FBM Ace reduced 39.58 points to 4,408.91.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 2.67 points to 16,581.46, the Plantation Index declined 29.95 points to 6,902.64 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.16 point lower at 164.35. — Bernama
