KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Bursa Malaysia turned lower at mid-morning despite opening higher today, weighed down by profit-taking in selected heavyweights, led by the financial and healthcare counters.
However, bargain hunting among the lower liners continued to support the broader market.
At 11.02am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia (FBM KLCI) fell 7.05 points to 1,622.36 from Thursday’s close of 1,629.41.
The key index opened 1.18 points better at 1,630.59.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 574 to 428, while 439 counters were unchanged, 763 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 3.79 billion units worth RM2.08 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals rose 13 sen to RM8.33 and Tenaga added two sen to RM10.82, while Public Bank shed three sen to RM4.31, IHH Healthcare eased four sen to RM5.27 while Maybank was flat at RM8.55.
Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange advanced 9.5 sen to 96.5 sen and its warrant added two sen to 38 sen, Dolphin International improved 1.5 sen to 10 sen, JAG climbed three sen to 41 sen, while both Advanced Synergy and Sapura Energy edged up half-a-sen to 16 sen and 69 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 22.51 points to 11,912.25 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 27.96 points to 11,588.93.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 0.8 of-a-point to 13,190.27, the FBM ACE surged 116.86 points to 10,559.98 and the FBM 70 jumped 49.05 points to 15,729.37.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 88.02 points to 15,633.80 and the Plantation Index erased 12.39 points to 7,177.33, while the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.47 points to 192.29. — Bernama
