.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower, weighed down by selling in heavyweight stocks, led by the telecommunications sector.
At lunch break, the FBM KLCI was 5.73 points easier at 1,606.52 from Friday’s close of 1,612.25.
The index, which opened 1.71 points stronger at 1,613.96, moved between 1,603.41 and 1,613.96 throughout the session.
Axiata and Digi topped the losers list among the 30 constituent counters after falling by 17 sen and 12 sen to RM3.94 and RM4.34, respectively.
Both counters dragged the composite index down by a combined 4.76 points.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 561 versus 411, while 654 counters were unchanged, 531 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume stood at 3.43 billion shares worth RM1.89 billion.
A dealer said Asian shares were mostly lower today despite the Wall Street’s strong performance, as investors held their positions awaiting the United States’ earning reports this week.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.41 per cent to 3,171.59, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 0.98 per cent to 28,417.24, and Japan’s Nikkei declined 0.51 per cent to 29,616.23.
Back home, of the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals rose two sen each to RM8.31 and RM7.85, respectively, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare added one sen each to RM4.21 and RM5.31 respectively.
Tenaga, however, trimmed two sen to RM10.22.
Among the active counters, Luster Industries and Hiap Teck inched up half-a-sen each to 26 sen and 51.5 sen, respectively, LKL gained three sen to 40.5 sen, while P.A Resources increased four sen to 55 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 21.65 points to 11,877.27, the FBMT 100 decreased 23.75 points to 11,522.81, the FBM Emas Shariah declined 28.98 points to 13,252.19, and the FBM ACE fell 176.26 points to 9,819.28.
Conversely, the FBM 70 gained 33.97 points to 15,820.94.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.08 points to 194.64, the Plantation Index shed 19.65 points to 6,963.98, while the Financial Services Index contracted 16.66 points to 15,197.17. — Bernama
