KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Bursa Malaysia closed the morning session mixed as the index continued its attempt to break the 1,600 benchmark.
At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 1.60 points to 1,597.62 compared to Friday’s close of 1,599.22.
On the broader market, gainers marginally surpassed losers at 338 to 314, while 322 counters were unchanged, 946 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.22 billion shares worth RM636.56 million.
An analyst said that the investors remain cautious on global economic future, with some pulling out from the stock market to invest in government bonds.
“The market is expected to trade range-bound for the rest of the day, with minimal chances of breaching the 1,600 benchmark by closing,” he said.
On the heavyweights’ performance, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 12 sen to RM23.90, Digi lost six sen to RM4.96 and Dialog was down five sen to RM3.48.
Meanwhile, Press Metal remained flat at RM4.79 and MISC added three sen to RM7.32.
Of the active stocks, Sumatec lost one sen to 2.5 sen, NETX lost half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, while Sapura Energy, Bumi Armada and KNM were all flat at 27 sen, 22 sen and 38 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 3.31 points to 11,839.90, the FBM Emas Index reduced 1.54 points to 11,306.57, the FBMT 100 Index declined 2.92 points to 11,142.73, the FBM Ace added 6.07 points to 4,593.79, while the FBM 70 was 30.18 points higher at 14,104.31.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened by 12.29 points to 15,536.80, the Industrial Products and Services Index was marginally higher by 0.8 point to 150.52 and the Plantation Index rose 0.92 of-a-point to 6,759.29. — Bernama
