KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session mixed as gains in small-cap stocks outweighed losses in heavyweights following the release of the country’s gross domestic product which showed the economy expanded by 3.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 5.82 points to 1,545.66 from yesterday’s close of 1,551.48.
After opening 0.46 point lower at 1,551.02 this morning, the local index moved between 1,545.66 and 1,555.66 throughout the morning session.
However, gainers outpaced losers 355 to 348, with 376 counters unchanged, 890 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.62 billion shares worth RM1.13 billion.
Bank Negara Malaysia’s governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus today announced that Malaysia’s economy grew by 3.6 per cent in the fourth quarter last year, dragging the full-year GDP growth at 4.3 per cent, the lowest since the 2009 financial crisis amid supply disruptions in the commodity sector.
Malaysia’s GDP grew by 4.7 per cent in 2018.
She also said that the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak would likely affect Malaysia’s GDP growth for Q1 2020, depending on how the virus spreads and evolves.
However, the governor said a number of measures suggested by the BNM would be introduced in the Covid-19 stimulus package.
Among heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank lost two sen to RM8.52, Tenaga decreased four sen to RM12.60, Public Bank was down 40 sen to RM17.90 and Petronas Chemicals declined 12 sen to RM6.54.
Of the actives, MYEG was three sen better at RM1.36, Securemetric eased two sen to 16.5 sen and DGB Asia added half-a-sen to 8.5 sen.
Meanwhile, shares of TA Global Bhd and TA Enterprise Bhd were suspended from trading from 9 am until 5pm today, pending a material announcement.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 23.63 points to 11,014.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 6.86 points to 11,746.08 and the FBMT 100 Index decreased 26.82 points to 10,811.52.
The FBM 70 was 22.77 points higher at 13,813.20 and the FBM Ace recovered 37.98 points to 5,582.89.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.52 of-a-point to 146.19, the Financial Services Index was 120.85 points lower at 14,792.18 and the Plantation Index shed 6.73 points to 7,314.68. — Bernama
