KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the negative territory on persistent selling on finance index-linked counters led by Public Bank.
However, the broader market continued to be supported by lower liners and small market-capitalisation stocks.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 10.24 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 1,601.18 from 1,611.42 at Wednesday’s close.
The key index opened 2.60 points higher at 1,614.02 and hovered between 1,599.40 and 1,614.35 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth, however, turned positive with gainers led losers 468 to 459, while 424 counters were unchanged, 646 untraded and 64 others suspended.
Trading volume stood at 6.76 billion shares worth RM2.96 billion.
Of the 30 FBM KLCI component stocks, finance-linked counters continued suffering from selling pressure due to the targeted moratorium extension plan announced by the government yesterday.
Public Bank declined 36 sen to RM17.18, Maybank lost five sen to RM7.70, CIMB erased four sen to RM3.56, Hong Leong Financial weakened 16 sen to RM13.48, RHB Bank was one sen lower at RM4.99.
Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at RM15.00.
Of the most actives, Lambo added one sen to five sen, BCM Alliance perked three sen to 32 sen, Priceworth International edged up half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, XOX lost one sen to 24.5 sen while Borneo Oil was flat at 4.5 sen.
Top loser Nestle gave up RM1.50 to RM140.50 while top gainer, MPI was 70 sen higher at RM13.40.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 33.43 points to 11,435.87, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 11.22 points lower at 13,454.13 and the FBMT 100 Index shrank 38.50 points to 11,269.48.
The FBM 70 lifted 81.86 points to 14,647.20 and the FBM ACE was 127.0 points higher at 8,650.87.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 134.49 points to 13,202.02, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.96 of-a-point to 141.46 and the Plantation Index contracted 3.87 points to 7,136.54. — Bernama
