Bursa Malaysia stays in the red at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 ― Bursa Malaysia pared some of its earlier losses but remained in the red zone at mid-morning, as selling persisted in certain index-lined counters.

At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shrank 7.19 points, or 0.45  per cent, to 1,586.71 from 1,593.90 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 8.73 points lower at 1,585.17 and declined further to a low of 1,580.78 in the morning trade.

Market breadth was negative with losers overtaking gainers 450 to 381, while 396 counters were unchanged, 961 untraded and 73 others suspended.

 Total volume stood at 3.35 billion units worth RM1.32 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maxis fell 13 sen to RM4.66, MISC slipped 19 sen to RM6.83, Petronas Gas dropped 30 sen to RM16.12, Public Bank was three sen easier at RM4.24, and IOI Corp trimmed nine sen to RM4.10.

Of the actives, Kanger International edged down half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, Sanichi warrant increased one sen to 1.5 sen, Kumpulan Jetson added 11 sen to 39.5 sen, Dangang Nexchange perked one sen to 81 sen, while MMAG was flat at 24.5 sen.

The top losers list was led by MPI, erasing 76 sen to RM37.04, followed by Nestle which declined 60 sen to RM135.90 and Carlsberg which slid 46 sen to RM22.12.

Other top laggards included Hong Leong Financial which contracted 42 sen to RM17.82 and Batu Kawan which was 38 sen lower at RM19.22.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 49.49 points to 11,549.04 and the FBMT 100 Index skidded 48.87 points to 11,240.87.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index dwindled 54.86 points to 12,836.97, the FBM 70 weakened 56.58 points to 14,896.32, and the FBM ACE gave up 66.09 points to 7,871.38.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 77.97 points to 15,054.53, the Plantation Index erased 20.56 points to 6,944.07, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.13 points to 193.26. ― Bernama