KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at mid-morning due to the lack of buying support, as investors remained concerned over the announcement of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) this afternoon, dealers said.
At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.33 points to 1,527.73 from Friday’s close of 1,532.06.
It had opened 0.83 of-a-point higher at 1,532.89.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 488 versus 354, while 403 counters were unchanged, 1,068 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.77 billion units worth RM1.01 billion.
Kenanga Research’s analyst Goh Yin Foo said the week ahead will see macro news hogging the limelight, starting with the tabling of the 12MP in Parliament today which will unveil the economic roadmap for Malaysia, outlining key development initiatives to be carried out over the next five years until 2025.
“Next will be the release of the August external trade data as well as the launch of the World Oil Outlook by Opec on Tuesday, followed by the August banking statistics which will be published on Thursday.
“As for the banking sector, there will be news on the government’s instruction for financial institutions to waive interest payments during the loan moratorium period for the bottom 50 per cent income bracket group (B50), which is scheduled to take effect for three months starting this Friday,” he said.
He added that the Malaysia Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report is also due to be out on Friday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank slipped 2.0 sen to RM8.08, Public Bank declined 1.0 sen to RM4.03, while Petronas Chemicals rose 4.0 sen to RM8.15, IHH Healthcare advanced 7.0 sen to RM6.71 and TNB increased 2.0 sen to RM9.88.
Of the actives, KNM added 2.0 sen to 25 sen, Impiana Hotels went up 1.0 sen to 8.5 sen, while DNex and Borneo Oil were flat at 81 sen and 3.0 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 23.74 points to 11,252.27, the FBMT 100 Index was 27.16 points lower at 10,946.36, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 30.42 points to 12,273.61.
The FBM 70 shed 21.93 points to 14,989.86, while the FBM ACE widened by 73.25 points to 7,235.47.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 12.73 points to 6,308.38, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 0.01 of-a-point to 200.55, and the Financial Services Index slid 17.01 points to 15,176.43. — Bernama
