KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at mid-day but managed to pare earlier losses to stay slightly above the 1,600- level, supported by buying interest in the lower liners and the broader market.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated 14.79 points to 1,600.88 from yesterday’s close of 1,615.67.
After opening at 1,609.37, the key index moved between 1,592.65 and 1,610.69 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth continued to stay negative as losers trumped gainers 492 to 241, while 363 counters remained unchanged, 875 untraded and 39 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.33 billion shares worth RM785.47 million.
In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said despite the positive sentiment continuing to lurk within the lower liners and the broader market, it cautioned that the increasingly overbought condition warrant a pullback allowing the recent gains on the local bourse to be digested.
“The local bourse’s performance was also influenced by the overnight weakness on Wall Street,” it added.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank fell 28 sen to RM19.70, Tenaga lost 18 sen to RM13.36, IHH and Sime Darby Plantation slipped 10 sen each to RM5.60 and RM5.46 respectively, and Maybank was seven sen lower at RM8.65.
Of the actives, TDM gained 2.5 sen to 43 sen, Sapura Energy and Astral Asia bagged half-a-sen each to 27.5 sen and 19 sen, respectively, while Rimbunan Sawit trimmed half-a-sen to 44.5 sen and London Biscuits went down three sen to 10.5 sen.
Top losers were led by Nestle, which gave up RM1.20 to RM146.90, followed by Dutch Lady which dropped 80 sen to RM49.20, Batu Kawan slid 52 sen to RM17.00, PPB erased 32 sen to RM18.98 and Petronas Dagangan lost 18 sen to RM23.12.
The FBM Emas Index dipped 76.36 points to 11,396.18 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 65.47 points weaker at 12,024.79.
The FBMT 100 Index declined 78.43 points to 11,187.65, the FBM Ace was 32.09 points easier at 5,158.04 but the FBM 70 rose 2.63 points to 14,252.25.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.37 of-a-point to 153.46, the Financial Services Index dipped 140.63 points to 15,565.67 and the Plantation Index dwindled 58.30 points to 7,791.34. — Bernama
