KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — Bursa Malaysia stayed in the red at mid-afternoon, with financial index-linked counters trading in mixed mode following Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 1.75 per cent.
At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.64 points to 1,464.82, after opening 2.65 points better at 1,469.11.
Market breadth, however, remained positive with gainers outpacing losers 615 to 374, while 384 counters were unchanged, 756 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 4.46 billion units worth RM2.20 billion.
Among the six banking heavyweights, three were in the negative territory — Maybank shrank one sen to RM7.00, RHB retreated five sen to RNM4.28, and Hong Leong Bank fell six sen to RM14.72.
Meanwhile, Public Bank added four sen to RM14.96, CIMB bagged six sen to RM2.96 and Hong Leong Financial rose 14 sen to RM14.16.
BNM said in statement today that the MPC considered the stance of monetary policy to be appropriate and accommodative, as global economy continued to recover, led by improvements in manufacturing and export activity.
The central bank said the OPR decision also came after the latest indicators in Malaysia pointed towards significant improvement in economic activity in the third quarter.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI component stocks, Sime Darby continued to weigh heavily on the key index, dropping 10 sen to RM2.38, followed by Petronas Chemicals which lost six sen to RM5.90.
Of the actives, GD Express Carrier fell 7.5 sen to 41.5 sen, XOX was one sen higher at 13.5 sen, Mah Sing gained nine sen to 97 sen and Vortex Consolidated rose half-a-sen to five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 21.38 points to 10,583.41, the FBMT 100 Index was 12.51 points better at 10,396.09 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 15.86 points to 12,701.84.
Meanwhile, the FBM 70 climbed 110.48 points to 13,851.27 and the FBM ACE was 160.25 points firmer at 9,706.65.
The Financial Services Index rose 39.26 points to 11,997.46, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.36 of-a-point better at 142.01 and the Plantation Index gained 14.02 points to 6,844.52. — Bernama
