KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session in negative territory as selling pressure resumed with investors staying cautious over the choppy trading on Wall Street overnight, a dealer said.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 8.35 points to 1,486.70 from yesterday’s close of 1,495.05.
The benchmark index opened 6.47 points weaker at 1,488.58 and moved between 1,483.01 and 1,489.46 throughout the session.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 399 to 264, while 395 counters were unchanged, 1,177 untraded and 9 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 995.56 million units worth RM533.92 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street recorded another choppy session as all three major indices ended lower on the escalating US-China tension and a softening US labour market.
The Dow Jones Index Average lost 402 points while the Nasdaq closed 22 points lower as the US 10-year yield climbed higher to 2.75 per cent.
“Thus we reckon sentiments will turn cautious and the index may encounter some selling pressure today, hence we expect the index to trend within the 1,480-1,500 range today,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Thong said crude palm oil skidded lower to RM3,840 per tonne as Indonesia continues to ease its export quota.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank lost 5.0 sen to RM8.83, Public Bank fell 7.0 sen to RM4.59 and CIMB went down 3.0 sen to RM5.22, while both Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were 1.0 sen higher at RM8.86 and RM6.43 respectively.
Of the actives, Borneo Oil and MQ Technology were flat at 2.5 sen and 4.0 sen, Green Packet rose 1.0 sen to 6.0 sen, South Malaysia Industries and CSH Alliance added half-a-sen each to 41.5 sen and 6.0 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 45.79 points to 10,536.71, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 24.28 points to 10,672.87, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 47.21 points to 10,289.47, and the FBM 70 shrank 15.15 points to 12,579.35, but the FBM ACE inched up 1.79 points to 4,798.37.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index strengthened by 6.09 points to 7,034.14, the Industrial Products and Services Index was down 0.20 of-a-point to 184.24, the Energy Index lessened by 0.33 of-a-point to 658.26, and the Financial Services Index dipped 124.81 points to 16,526.46. ― Bernama
