KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower due to losses in selected heavyweights.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,586.53, down 0.8 of-a-point from yesterday’s close of 1,587.33.
After opening 2.69 points weaker at 1,584.64, the benchmark index moved between 1,584.64 and 1,595.38 throughout the session.
Meanwhile, market breadth was negative with decliners leading gainers 474 to 307, while 339 counters remained unchanged, 866 untraded and 38 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.92 billion shares worth RM1.21 billion.
A dealer said market sentiment was weak, in tandem with regional bourses, which also tumbled amid the virus-outbreak fears with Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 0.01 per cent to 3,246.73 and the Jakarta Composite Index declined 0.06 per cent to 6,234.70.
“Market sentiment is down after news that the Chinese coronavirus had spread to the United States, raising fears of a pandemic that might affect global economic growth,” he added.
Of heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were unchanged at RM8.60 and RM6.99, respectively, while Public Bank and Tenaga both eased two sen to RM19.46 and RM12.86, respectively.
The most active counter was ACE Market debutant, Powerwell Holdings Bhd, which rose three sen to 28 sen, with 232.89 million shares traded.
Other actively traded stocks were Vortex, which fell half-a-sen to 8.5 sen and Supermax gained 11 sen to RM1.56.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 0.18 points higher at 11,319.48 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 22.33 points to 12,015.50.
The FBMT 100 Index increased 0.34 of-a-point to 11,106.80, the FBM 70 gained 24.66 points to 14,229.12 and the FBM Ace decreased 10.10 points to 5,624.99.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.38 of-a-point to 153.90, the Financial Services Index declined 10.44 points to 15,314.94 and the Plantation Index lost 42.74 points to 7,477.02. — Bernama
