KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 ― Bursa Malaysia turned slightly lower at mid-morning amidst mixed regional market sentiment, as investors remained cautious over the bearish global economic outlook, dealers said.
At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.93 of-a-point to 1,585.96 from yesterday’s close of 1,586.89.
The market bellwether opened 1.42 points better at 1,588.31.
Market breadth turned negative with decliners leading gainers 455 to 367, while 418 counters were unchanged, 978 untraded and six others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.84 billion shares worth RM1.03 billion.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were mixed today, mirroring the Wall Street’s performance where trade was indecisive following the disappointing United States’ (US) ADP National Employment numbers ahead of the release of the US Nonfarm Payrolls report tomorrow.
“The data hurt the US Dollar ― its main index, the DXY, stumbled beneath 92.50.
“Meanwhile, Antipodean currencies rose following decent Australian gross domestic product data,” he said in a research note today.
Back home, heavyweights Maybank and Petronas Chemicals slipped 1.0 sen each to RM8.29 and RM8.28, respectively, Public Bank fell 2.0 sen to RM4.06, while Tenaga Nasional rose 4.0 sen to RM10.38 and IHH Healthcare advanced 5.0 sen to RM6.38.
Among the actives, Ho Wah Genting gained 2.5 sen to 32.5 sen, TFP Solutions added 1.0 sen to 23 sen, while TA Win and Bintai Kinden eased half-a-sen each to 16.5 sen and 56 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 8.31 points to 11,553.03, the FBMT 100 Index was 8.88 points lower at 11,256.16, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 5.19 points to 12,693.90.
The FBM 70 decreased 20.60 points to 14,966.85, while the FBM ACE shed 9.28 points to 7,206.74.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 19.82 points to 6,777.41, the Financial Services Index dipped 11.93 points to 15,384.61 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.90 of-a-point to 198.67. ― Bernama
