KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session mixed, with the benchmark index increasing by 0.48 per cent as bargain-hunting activities emerged following the recent sell-off, a dealer said.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.07 points to 1,471.90 from yesterday's close of 1,464.83, in contrast to the weaker regional market performance.
The barometer index opened 6.97 points lower at 1,457.86, and moved between 1,451.18 and 1,475.55 throughout the session.
However, on the broader market, losers trounced gainers 536 to 333, while 407 counters were unchanged, 987 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.67 billion units worth RM1.11 billion.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were trading with risk-off mode today as global risk assets faced headwinds amid a potential hawkish Federal Reserve announcement tomorrow.
“The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is likely to consider surprising markets with a larger-than-expected 0.75-percentage point interest rate increase at its meeting this week,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.95 per cent to 3,109.55, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.65 per cent to 26,543.24, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased 0.91 per cent to 20,876.31.
Among the heavyweights back home, Maybank was one sen lower at RM8.67, Public Bank stayed flat at RM4.48, Petronas Chemicals gained 14 sen to RM9.70 and IHH Healthcare rose 10 sen to RM6.32.
Of the actives, Unitrade eased four sen to 28 sen and Dagang NeXchange gave up half-a-sen to 90 sen, while Top Glove and Yew Lee were flat at RM1.03 and 29.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 41.50 points higher at 10,518.70, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 52.98 points to 10,733.64, the FBM 70 added 40.67 points to 12,720.29, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 45.32 points at 10,237.71, and the FBM ACE trimmed 29.80 points to 4,886.86.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 34.12 points to 16,214.03, the Plantation Index gained 120.34 points to 7,503.25, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.04 points higher at 189.86. — Bernama
