KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at the end of the morning session, largely dragged down by selling in Tenaga.
At midday, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 5.49 points to 1,579.65 from yesterday's close of 1,585.14.
The index opened 3.02 points easier at 1,582.12 and moved between 1,575.77 and 1,582.12 throughout the morning session.
Tenaga pulled the composite index down by 2.209 points after losing 22 sen to RM12.68 with 2.18 million shares changing hands.
The overall market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 437 to 250, while 366 counters remained unchanged,1,967 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.51 billion shares worth RM814.23 million.
A dealer said Asian stocks were mixed today despite the signing of the United States-China phase one trade deal yesterday as it was priced in advance, pushing investors to wait for the next market catalyst.
Moody's Group credit officer and senior vice-president, Clara Lau said although it was a positive development, the phase one trade agreement would not resolve the core differences between the two countries ― particularly in terms of future technology competition.
“Thus, policy uncertainty will persist, dampening business and investment sentiment and adversely affecting the earnings growth and profitability of corporates,” she said in a statement today.
Of heavyweights, Public Bank eased two sen to RM19.54, Petronas Chemicals trimmed four sen to RM6.99, CIMB slipped one sen to RM5.17, while both Maybank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.60 and RM5.55 respectively.
Among the actives, Vortex eased 1.5 sen to 12 sen, Yong Tai inched down half-a-sen to 14.5 sen, Alam Maritim and London Biscuits slid one sen each to 15.5 sen and 1.5 sen respectively, while Hubline was flat at four sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 45.51 points to 11,257.66 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 62.39 points to 11,860.51.
The FBMT 100 Index contracted 45.49 points to 11,045.97, the FBM 70 erased 87.27 points to 14,099.36 while the FBM Ace decreased 25.81 points to 5,534.26.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.29 of-a-point to 153.12, the Financial Services Index gave up 54.65 points to 15,380.21 and the Plantation Index declined 37.75 points to 7,529.11. ― Bernama
