KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower, dragged down by selling in selected heavyweights amid weak market sentiment.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.46 points to 1,496.61 from yesterday’s close of 1,502.07.
The benchmark index opened 0.74 of a point weaker at 1,501.33 and moved between 1,496.04 and 1,503.0 throughout the session.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 589 to 205, while 353 counters were unchanged, 1,096 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.68 billion units worth RM781.68 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street closed lower overnight following a choppy session as profit-taking activities set in.
The Dow Jones Index Average declined 47 points while the Nasdaq lost 22 points with the US 10-year yield easing to 2.59 per cent. “We reckon that the index will possibly climb higher and retest the 1,510 mark for the rest of the day,” he said.
Meanwhile, crude palm oil fell to RM4,060 per tonne as Indonesia is boosting exports to clear its high inventory level while Brent crude also declined on weakening demand to end at US$100 per barrel.
Among the heavyweight stocks, both Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.87 and RM5.25, respectively, Public Bank dipped one sen to RM4.63, Petronas Chemicals slid two sen to RM8.93 and IHH Healthcare went down six sen to RM6.44.
Of the actives, CSH Alliance shed 1.5 sen to six sen, both PUC and Metronic decreased half-a-sen each to four sen and 12 sen, respectively, while Borneo Oil and Sapura Energy were flat at 2.5 sen and four sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index eased 68.48 points to 10,599.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 91.97 points to 10,741.11, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 61.68 points to 10,350.89, the FBM ACE gave up 82.46 points to 4,826.28, and the FBM 70 shrank 171.77 points to 12,625.55.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index reduced by 12.24 points to 7,106.94, the Industrial Products and Services Index down 1.46 points to 184.57, the Energy Index lessened by 16.29 points to 659.72, and the Financial Services Index dropped 40.54 points to 16,623.27. ― Bernama
