KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Bursa Malaysia slipped into the red at mid-afternoon dragged down by profit-taking in telecommunications blue-chip stocks.
At 3.04pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 0.26 point to 1,588.62 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,588.88.
The index opened 0.41 point higher at 1,589.29 this morning.
Market breadth was negative as it widened, with losers outpacing gainers 459 to 329 while 368 remained unchanged, 831 untraded and 28 counters suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.86 billion shares worth RM1.11 billion.
An analyst said there was mild profit-taking in selected heavyweight stocks which would only be temporary.
Telecommunications heavyweight counters Maxis and Axiata reduced seven sen and 15 sen respectively to RM5.53 and RM4.36, while DiGi was flat at RM4.55.
Meanwhile, Tenaga Nasional slipped four sen to RM12.90 while Petronas Chemicals lost three sen to RM7.00.
Of the actives, Vortex decreased one sen to nine sen, Yong Tai gained two sen to 15.5 sen and Rimbunan Sawit added 2.5 sen to 34.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 6.11 points to 11,328.00 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 2.56 points to 12,002.26.
The FBMT 100 Index dropped 6.60 points to 11,114.48, the FBM 70 reduced 28.06 points to 14,210.45 and the FBM Ace was 16.35 points lower at 5,640.36.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.44 point to 153.38, the Financial Services Index fell 6.10 points to 15,347.57 and the Plantation Index was 10.08 points higher at 7,499.68. — Bernama
