KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Bursa Malaysia turned marginally lower at mid-morning today on lack of buying activities as investors digest the barrage of sluggish corporate earnings, said Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd.
At 11.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.19 point lower at 1,549.39 from Wednesday’s close of 1,549.58.
The barometre index opened 1.37 points easier at 1,548.21.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 514 to 426, while 363 counters were unchanged, 731 untraded and 68 others suspended.
Trading volume stood at 7.11 billion shares worth RM2.26 billion.
In a research note, the brokerage firm said after three consecutive days of pullback, it anticipates that bargain hunting activities may emerge, albeit at a mild level, to provide some support to the local bourse.
“Meanwhile, we see the stocks that delivered stronger-than-expected corporate earnings to keep trading activities at a healthy level,” it said.
On the technical front, it said although the downward bias consolidation is still prevalent, recovery is on the cards with 1,580 serving as the immediate resistance, followed by 1,600. Downside risk is now supported at 1,540, followed by 1,515.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM7.46, Top Glove dipped 34 sen to RM26.00, Public Bank recovered 24 sen to RM16.84, Tenaga rose four sen to RM11.04 and Hartalega was down 16 sen at RM16.60.
Among the actives, XOX gained 3.5 sen to 33 sen, Key Alliance Group was flat at 11.5 sen and GPA decreased 2.5 sen to 23.5 sen.
Meanwhile, top gainers Nestle increased 50 sen to RM139.70, Allianz improved 34 sen to RM13.58, and Kwantas went up 30 sen to 85.5 sen.
The list of top losers was led by Supermax which lost 60 sen to RM20.68, while Carlsberg slid 42 sen to RM22.10, followed by Top Glove.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 7.79 points to 11,187.68, the FBMT 100 Index was 9.15 points lower at 10,987.84 and the FBM 70 depreciated 42.67 points to 14,606.97.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 34.57 points to 13,224.72 while the FBM ACE rose 28.23 points to 11,214.08.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened 38.09 points to 12,872.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.04 point to 140.61, but the Plantation Index added 33.64 points to 7,067.63. — Bernama
