KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower, despite the uptrend seen in regional peers, due to profit-taking especially in index-linked counters.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.87 of-a-point to 1,593.88 from 1,594.75 last Friday after moving between 1,592.47 and 1,596.17.
It opened 1.66 points weaker at 1,593.09.
There were 368 decliners and 311 advancers, while 374 counters were unchanged, 946 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.22 billion shares worth RM591.55 million.
“Profit-taking dominates the market, offsetting the positive external developments coupled with better-than-expected third-quarter gross domestic product performance,” a dealer told Bernama.
Most regional bourses recorded gains, following the positive Wall Street performance with the Dow Jones Industrial Average marked history last Friday on hopes for a China trade deal.
Japan’s Nikkei improved 0.32 per cent to 23,378.57, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.11 per cent to 26,618.77, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.29 per cent to 3,248.2.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga trimmed two sen each to RM8.64 and RM13.66, Public Bank lost 18 sen to RM19.72, and Petronas Chemicals decreased eight sen to RM7.36.
However, CIMB perked up five sen to RM5.27 while IHH gained six sen to RM5.41.
Of the actives, Sapura, Netx and Trive inched up half-a-sen each to 30.5 sen, 2.5 sen and 1.5 sen, while Bumi Armada eased half-a-sen to 52 sen.
The FBM Emas Index decreased 4.0 points to 11,309.77, the FBMT 100 Index shed 5.65 points to 11,120.15 and FBM 70 edged down 5.64 points to 14,089.84.
The FBM Ace rose 24.59 points to 4,944.66 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 10.35 points to 11,846.31.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 45.37 points to 15,566.36, the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.46 of-a-point to 152.92, but the Plantation Index was 19.76 points higher at 6,948.3. — Bernama
