KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Bursa Malaysia turned lower at mid-morning today on profit-taking in most index-linked counters, analysts said.
At 11.02am, the benchmark index was 2.65 points easier at 1,603.32, from Monday’s close of 1,605.97.
The bellwether index opened 5.86 points firmer at 1,611.83.
Market breadth was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 488 to 434, while 430 counters were unchanged, 1,495 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.90 billion units worth RM1.18 billion.
Maybank IB Research said rotational buying is in play, with some of the most sought after sectors ripe for profit-taking.
“Buying interest has started to emerge in the ACE market after being in consolidation mode since June 2021.
“Technically, we expect the benchmark index to range between 1,580 and 1,620, with supports revised to 1,577-1,555 from 1,515-1,500, previously,” it said in a note.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose two sen to RM8.33, Public Bank added three sen to RM4.26, Petronas Chemicals rose five sen to RM8.80 and CIMB was one sen higher at RM5.31, while IHH lost eight sen to RM6.58 and Tenaga decreased one sen to RM9.81.
Among the actives, Daya Materials gained half-a-sen to two sen, Macpie was flat at 13 sen and MAG fell half-a-sen to 21 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 6.82 points to 11,807.55, the FBMT 100 Index reduced 6.90 points to 11,447.38 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 19.83 points to 12,873.82, while the FBM 70 improved 37.62 points to 15,517.90 and the FBM ACE was up 46.01 points to 7,287.72.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 46.42 points to 15,891.71, the Industrial Products and Services Index dropped 0.86 of-a-point to 212.55, and the Plantation Index shed 26.91 points to 7,011.39. — Bernama
