KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Bursa Malaysia reversed earlier gains to turn easier at mid-morning, as selling in index-linked counters emerged, weighed on by Sime Darby Plantation.
At 11.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.44 points to 1,576.35 from Tuesday’s close of 1,577.79.
Sime Darby Plantation dragged the composite index down by 1.334 points after falling 11 sen to RM4.80 with 213,300 shares changing hands.
Market breadth turned sour as losers outnumbered gainers 335 to 229, while 336 counters were unchanged, 1,097 untraded and 50 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 897.73 million shares worth RM533.05 million.
A dealer said investors took cue from the unfavourable overnight performance of Wall Street and ahead of an expected interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve later today.
US stock markets tumbled, with the S&P 500 retreating from its record high yesterday, as market players digested the latest series of corporate earnings results.
For other heavyweights on Bursa, Maybank shed one sen to RM8.46, Public Bank lost eight sen to RM19.26 and IHH eased four sen to RM5.69.
Tenaga rose four sen to RM13.80, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.42.
IFCA was the most actively traded stock this morning, gaining 4.5 sen to 54 sen, followed by Velesto which slipped one sen to 36 sen, as Cuscapi bagged 3.5 sen to 21.5 sen and Mudajaya edged up 6.5 sen to 27.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 19.96 points lower at 11,179.66, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 14.35 points to 10,995.98, the FBM Ace slid 0.96 of a point to 4,927.16, the FBM 70 fell 35.76 points to 13,925.04 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 23.03 points to 11,792.98.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 2.33 points to 15,267.84, the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.34 point to 152.81, while the Plantation Index declined 34.79 points to 6,658.51. — Bernama
