KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Bursa Malaysia was easier at mid-morning following losses in selected heavyweights.
At 11.19am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.15 points to 1,594.66 from Friday’s close of 1,595.81, after opening 0.58 of-a-point higher at 1,596.39 this morning.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 343 to 313, while 349 counters remained unchanged, 962 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.03 billion shares worth RM491.04 million.
Oanda senior market analyst for Asia Pacific, Jeffrey Halley said Wall Street has set another new record at its closing last Friday, with the S&P 500 up by 0.39 per cent, the Nasdaq rising 0.24 per cent and the Dow Jones increasing 0.17 per cent.
However, he said Asia has not fully embraced Wall Street’s Friday rally, with Asian stock markets showing a mixed performance this morning.
“The lingering disappointment following China’s decision not to cut the Loan Prime Rate sees the Shanghai Composite edging 0.20 per cent higher and Taiwan rising 0.35 per cent while Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur have all fallen 0.15 per cent.
“With the United States on holiday today for Martin Luther King Day and Chinese New Year upon us this weekend, we expect volumes to be below average in Asia this week,” he said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM8.62 and RM7.03, respectively, Public Bank declined eight sen to RM19.52 and Tenaga up six sen to RM12.96.
Of the actives, Vortex slid half-a-sen to 10 sen, Alam Maritim rose one sen to 17.5 sen and Perdana Petroleum gained three sen to 52.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 0.64 points to 11,362.90 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 4.84 points to 12,024.06.
The FBMT 100 Index declined 1.99 points to 11,150.74, the FBM 70 gained 22.30 points to 14,232.19 and the FBM Ace was 42.49 points higher at 5,607.61.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.12 of-a-point to 154.00, the Financial Services Index lost 10.22 points to 15,408.02 and the Plantation Index declined 41.50 points to 7,493.93. — Bernama
