KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Bursa Malaysia pared down losses at mid-day today against a backdrop of weaker regional markets.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 0.07 point to 1,610.34, after fluctuating between 1,588.98 and 1,610.93 throughout the morning session.
The FBM KLCI opened 17.57 points weaker at 1,592.84.
On Bursa Malaysia, overall market breadth remained negative as losers outmuscled gainers 572 to 266, while 360 counters were unchanged, 689 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.91 billion shares worth RM1.32 million.
Regionally, the Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.61 per cent to 3,175.11, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.79 per cent to 20,556.92 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.71 per cent to 25,966.59.
The market saw some volatility today following the massive overnight sell-down on Wall Street as the Dow Jones Index lost almost 770 points on fears of over the repercussion of the ongoing US-China trade spat.
In addition, the Chinese yuan slumped to a 10-year low at 7.05/US$1, said Rakuten Trade in a note today.
“In view of this, the US Federal Reserve may be pressured to revise interest rates lower to counter the weakening yuan. Thus, we may see some temporary adjustments for now with buy-on-weakness, especially in index linked banking stocks,” it added.
Of the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank added one sen to RM8.59, TNB jumped 14 sen to RM13.92, Petronas Chemicals surged 17 sen to RM7.40, CIMB gained two sen to RM5.05, IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.68, as Public Bank declined 24 sen RM21.32 and Axiata fell 11 sen to RM4.83.
Of the active stocks, KNM rose one sen to 37 sen, Netx and Genting Malaysia were flat at 1.5 sen and RM3.61 respectively, while MYEG shed three sen to RM1.51 and Focus Dynamics slipped one sen to 35 sen.
The FBM Emas Index slipped 3.66 points to 11,376.86, the FBMT 100 Index was 1.59 points easier at 11,214.3 and the FBM Ace declined 23 points to 4,563.05.
The FBM 70 was down 6.58 points to 14,124.18 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 17.09 points to 11,810.72.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 59.97 points to 15,762.06, the Plantation Index shaved off 26.68 points to 6,583.43 and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.54 point to 151.59. — Bernama
