KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended lower at mid-day in a cautious trading mode, while tracking the performance of regional peers, a dealer said.
At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.53 points lower at 1,570.97 from yesterday’s close of 1,574.50.
The benchmark index opened 1.78 points easier at 1,572.72 and moved between 1,569.24 and 1,576.87 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 344 to 324, with 363 counters unchanged, 972 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.58 billion shares worth RM872.79 million.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.29 per cent to 22,518.37, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.09 per cent to 26,824.37, South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.35 per cent to 2,070.27, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 0.37 per cent to 3,114.68.
A dealer said Asian shares were mostly lower following a mixed economic data from China with Chinese gross domestic product growth weakened, while monthly industrial production data beat estimates.
“With the limited significance indicators from China, investors are now looking at the potential (for resolution) of the US-China trade deal between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next month, as well as the Brexit deal ahead for market direction,” he said.
On the local front, he said Bursa Malaysia continued to see mild profit-taking in heavyweight stocks, which saw range-bound trading on blue-chips.
“The broad market conditions remained largely mixed due to the confluence of profit-taking and bargain-hunting activities that kept the near term upsides modest for now,” he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.53, while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals gained two sen each to RM19.30 and RM7.36, respectively.
Tenaga slid two sen to RM13.74 and IHH lost six sen to RM5.68.
Of the most active, KNM Group increased 1.5 sen to 46 sen, MyEG climbed three sen to RM1.28 and MTAG improved 2.5 sen to 51 sen.
Bumi Armada and Green Packet’s warrant were flat at 32 sen and 44 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index decreased 20 points to 11,189.77, the FBMT 100 Index shed 22.23 points to 11,003.31 and the FBM 70 reduced 18.46 points to 14,118.71.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 32.32 points lower at 11,808.31, while the FBM Ace increased 3.53 points to 4,798.19.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 17.38 points to 15,238.89, the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.01 of-a-point better at 152.39, while the Plantation Index fell 62.05 points to 6,658.10. — Bernama
