KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 ― Bursa Malaysia stayed in the red at mid-morning on weak market sentiment, in line with the decline in regional stocks.
At 11.24am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 18.75 points to 1,554.06 from Friday's close of 1,572.63, after opening 14.24 points weaker at 1,558.57.
A dealer said market sentiment was clouded by growing worries on the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak and its economic impact on global growth.
Market breadth was extremely negative with losers leading gainers 791 to 133, while 177 counters remained unchanged, 876 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.70 billion shares worth RM1.22 billion.
On the regional front, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 84.17 points to 3,155.85, the Jakarta Composite Index declined 57.83 points to 6,075.38 and South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index was 72.35 points lower at 2,173.78.
Among the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank lost half-a-sen to RM8.48, Public Bank was 28 sen lower at RM18.90 and Tenaga decreased 24 sen to RM12.64.
While most heavyweights were in the red, healthcare stocks bucked the trend with Hartalega rising 31 sen to RM6.34 while Top Glove improved 49 sen to RM6.03 and IHH was nine sen higher at RM5.88.
Of the actives, Priceworth eased half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, Careplus gained 14 sen to 37.5 sen and Supermax added 26 sen to RM1.87.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 151.21 points to 11,095.45 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 155.23 points to 11,812.90.
The FBMT 100 Index fell 142.66 points to 10,889.67, the FBM 70 was 229.52 points lower at 13,992.71 and the FBM Ace decreased 78.95 points to 5,601.452.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 3.54 points to 148.41, the Financial Services Index lost 157.21 points to 14,945.86 and the Plantation Index was 150.86 points weaker at 7,273.89. ― Bernama
