KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 ― Bursa Malaysia continued its slide to finish the morning session lower, in sync with the downtrend on the regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shrank 9.42 points, or 0.65 per cent to 1,442.69, from 1,452.11 at Thursday’s close.

The index opened 0.74 of-a-point lower at 1,451,37 and hovered between 1,442.41 and 1,451.44 throughout the early session.

Market breadth was negative, with losers overtaking gainers 697 to 244, while 313 counters were unchanged, 653 untraded and 49 others suspended.

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Turnover stood at 3.77 billion units worth RM2.25 billion.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei Index retreated 0.71 per cent to 20,407.34, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 4.61 per cent to 23,160.11 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 1.98 per cent lower at 2,504.62.

In a note today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said regional markets continued with their consolidation today after an overnight correction on the Wall Street, as traders took profits due to the escalating US-China tension and a rebound in Covid-19 cases in the US.

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Taking the cue from regional peers, the research house said the FBM KLCI which gained more than 70 points over the week, had experienced some corrections.

“As such, the FBM KLCI may dip below the 1,450 mark to around the 1,445 level today,” it said.

Meanwhile, shares of Telekom skidded 4.5 per cent, or 20 sen to RM4.23 after Khazanah Nasional Bhd completed the placement of 172.3 million shares in the company at RM4.27 per share.

Khazanah raised gross proceeds of RM735.7 million as part of the sovereign wealth fund's on-going portfolio restructuring.

In a statement today, Khazanah said the share placement exercise, which was priced at  3.61 per cent discount to the closing market price of RM4.43 on May 21, 2020, is the largest telecommunications-related placement in Malaysia and the third largest in ASEAN so far this year.

On the local bourse, IHH continued to lead losses in the heavyweights after losing 20 sen to RM5.50, Petronas Chemicals slipped 14 sen to RM6.03, IOI Corp lost 13 sen to RM4.37, while CIMB and MISC trimmed six sen each to RM3.50 and RM8.06 respectively.

Of the most actives, Velesto, KNM and Bumi Armada shed one sen each to 15.5 sen, 21 sen and 22 sen respectively, while GD Express added 3.5 sen to 35.5 sen and Media Prima was one sen better at 16.5 sen.

Top loser BAT gave up RM1.56 to RM11.74, Petron Malaysia fell 29 sen to RM4.33, UEM Edgenta weakened 27 sen to RM2.30, while Kossan and Malpac edged down 25 sen each to RM8.38 and 55 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 94.50 points to 10,210.60, the FBMT 100 Index eased 89.70 points to 10,059.62 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank  99.89 points to 11,651.42.

The FBM ACE declined 95.19 points to 5,413.39 and the FBM 70 dipped 211.27 points to 12,709.80.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 109.30 points to 12,439.39, the Plantation Index narrowed 99.53 points to 6,727.52 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.78 points to 125.49. ― Bernama