KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 ― Bursa Malaysia was negative at mid-afternoon today on mild profit-taking led by financial counters, despite another session of record highs on Wall Street.
At 3.00pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.37 points easier at 1,593.64 from yesterday's close of 1,596.01.
The benchmark index, however, opened 2.26 points higher at 1,598.27.
On the broader market, the market was close to mixed as losers outpaced gainers by 359 to 315, while 384 counters remained unchanged, 947 untraded and 44 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.26 billion shares worth RM888.46 million.
Meanwhile, financial heavyweights Hong Leong Bank eased 36 sen to RM17.24, CIMB fell six sen to RM5.27, Maybank slid seven to RM8.63 and RHB declined one sen to RM5.73 but Public Bank recovered four sen to RM19.66.
Tenaga was flat at RM13.12 and Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM7.37.
Of the actives, Inari added four sen to RM1.65, KNM rose half-a-sen to 36 sen and Ifca increased 4.5 sen to 50.5 sen.
Top losers were led by Nestle, which shed RM1.30 sen to RM145.70, followed by Hong Leong Bank, while Batu Kawan decreased 30 sen to RM16.82.
Among top gainers, Panamy rose RM1.20 to RM37.96, Dutch Lady was 76 sen higher at RM47.24 and PPB increased 50 sen to RM19.40.
The FBM Emas Index slid 17.36 points to 11,302.02, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 18.10 points to 11,105.70 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 5.74 points to 11,916.46.
The FBM Ace improved 3.96 points to 4,999.81 but the FBM 70 eased 29.65 points to 14,018.96.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was down 85.35 points at 15,536.51, the Plantation Index reduced 2.40 points to 7,538.14 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.08 point to 152.91. ― Bernama
