KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at mid-day today in line with regional peers, as optimism over the latest round US-China trade negotiations begins to fade.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.25 points to 1,565.34 from Monday’s close of 1,567.59.
The benchmark index opened 0.56 of a point easier at 1,567.03. and moved between 1,564.45 and 1,568.24 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 366 to 287 with 386 counters unchanged, 937 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.38 billion shares worth RM765.79 million.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei improved 1.85 per cent to 22,203.23, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.06 per cent to 26,506.18, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.11 per cent to 2,069.12, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.04 per cent to 3,123.24.
A dealer said investors took profit following significant gains yesterday with selling seen in selected heavyweight stocks.
“However, the falls were limited on the back of upside potential over the near-term as bargain hunting begun appearing after the recent sell-down,” he added.
Asian shares were mixed taking cue from the weaker overnight performance of Wall Street and the fall in US treasuries as investors weighed the next steps in the US-China trade deal, cues from the Brexit Summit and a slew of US bank earnings results this week, he added.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga slipped six sen to RM13.74, Public Bank slid two sen to RM19.14, and IHH Healthcare lost 13 sen to RM5.64.
Maybank bagged one sen to RM8.54, while Petronas Chemicals added two sen to RM7.30.
Of the most actives, KNM Group gained 3.5 sen to 43 sen, Bumi Armada edged up half-a-sen to 42 sen and KNM warrant gained 5.5 sen to 18 sen.
NetX Holdings and Green Packet’s was flat at 2.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index declined 4.22 points to 11,146.79, the FBMT 100 Index shed 6.93 points to 10,961.06 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 30.26 points to 11,752.67.
The FBM 70 rose 27.22 points to 14,052.96 and the FBM Ace improved 0.63 of-a-point at 4,649.83.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 13.14 points to 15,147.06, the Plantation Index gained 22.03 points to 6,622.26, while the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.38 of-a-point better at 151.26. — Bernama
