KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 ― Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-afternoon today due to losses in index-linked heavyweights such as Maybank, Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals.
At 3.12pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.68 points to 1,572.30 from yesterday's close of 1,577.98, after opening 2.71 points weaker at 1,575.27.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 550 to 242 while 314 counters remained unchanged, 879 were untraded and 37 were suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.61 billion shares worth RM1.07 billion.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI's weakness might linger with a potential further contraction, as investors continued to assess the impact of Bank Negara Malaysia’s move to trim its benchmark interest rates, slumping crude oil prices and the weakness on Wall Street.
“The FBM KLCI may continue to trade in a range-bound mode with downward bias momentum as the 1,570 level will serve as the immediate support, followed by the 1,550 level. A recovery, meanwhile, is expected to be mild with gains capped at the 1,590 level,” it added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM8.52, Tenaga declined 10 sen to RM12.78, Petronas Chemicals lost two sen to RM6.94 and Public Bank added eight sen to RM19.10.
Among the actives, Powerwell rose one sen to 29.5 sen, MTouche eased one sen to 16.5 sen and Vortex was half-a-sen lower at eight sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index went down 45.58 points to 11,232.13 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 65.92 points to 11,947.77.
The FBMT 100 Index fell 42.30 points to 11,019.00, the FBM 70 gave up 64.61 points to 14,165.08 and the FBM Ace was 3.58 points higher at 5,641.65.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.41 of-a-point to 152.45, the Financial Services Index fell 13.12 points to 15,101.84 and the Plantation Index was 27.07 points weaker at 7,457.66. ― Bernama
