KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 ― Bursa Malaysia was mixed at mid-morning as investors took a profit-taking stance after a positive opening amid the overnight decline in US equities.
At 11.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 1.1 points at 1,590.36 compared with Friday's close of 1,591.46.
Public Investment Bank said in a note US stocks ended lower on Friday, after the Dow briefly topped the 29,000 milestone, with investor euphoria over recent record highs deflated by data showing slower-than-expected US jobs and wage growth in December.
“The US Labour Department said the US economy added 145,000 new jobs in December, below the 165,000 expected by economists and less than the 266,000 gain in the prior month. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, held near a 50-year low at 3.5 per cent,” it said.
Meanwhile, market breadth was positive with 356 gainers versus 287 decliners, with 339 unchanged and 965 not traded.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.65 and RM5.20 respectively, PBBank rose six sen to RM19.60, while Tenaga eased four sen to RM12.94 and Petronas Chemicals declined one sen to RM7.23.
Of the actives, Vortex Consolidated and Rimbunan Sawit trimmed one sen to 18 sen and 37.5 sen respectively, while DGB Asia was flat at 15 sen.
Perdana Petroleum improved 35 sen to 45 sen, and Alam Maritim rose one sen to 18 sen.
On the main index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 2.78 points to 11,341.75 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 5.83 points lower at 11,961.85.
The FBMT 100 Index lost 7.47 points to 11,131.47, the FBM 70 slipped 8.49 points to 14,251.97 while the FBM Ace expanded 47.04 points to 5,527.74.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index increased slightly by 0.09 point to 153.66, the Plantation Index rose 1.99 points to 7,694.99, while the Financial Services Index dipped 23.6 points to 15,525.96. ― Bernama
