KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Trading on Bursa Malaysia turned choppy at midmorning with the key index fluctuating within a tight range, while buying interest in selected heavyweights supported the barometre index, dealers said.
At 11.00am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.89 of-a-point to 1,585.34 from Tuesday’s close of 1,583.48.
It opened 1.76 points easier at 1,581.72
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers at 566 versus 279, while 438 counters were unchanged, 954 untraded and 25 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.65 billion units worth RM1.03 billion.
In a note today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI remained resilient due to continuous accumulation from foreign funds.
“We noticed liquidity is beginning to shift into the small caps amidst prevailing consolidation of the blue chips, as depicted by the improving broader market volume and FBM Small Cap index.
“We believed the trading momentum on small caps would gain traction in the near term. As for today, we expect the benchmark index to trend within the 1,580-1,590 range,” it added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank added two sen each to RM8.29 and RM4.12, respectively, Petronas Chemicals rose eight sen to RM8.13, IHH Healthcare bagged three sen to RM6.33, while Tenaga Nasional shed two sen to RM10.32.
Of the actives, KNM eased five sen to 26.5 sen, GIIB warrant slid one sen to six sen, Fintec edged up half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, PUC improved three sen to 19.5 sen, while Metronic and JAKS Resources were flat at 3.5 sen and 51.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 10.89 points to 11,589.47, the FBMT 100 Index was 1.5 points easier at 11,284.78, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 24.05 points to 12,687.84.
The FBM 70 dropped 54.24 points to 15,169.44 and the FBM ACE fell 64.20 points to 7,296.10.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 35.87 points to 6,657.13, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.04 of-a-point to 201.32 and the Financial Services Index advanced 33.10 points to 15,471.18. — Bernama
