KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower amidst continued selling pressures in the broader market.
At lunchbreak, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched down 0.70 of-a-point to 1,473.29, from yesterday's close of 1,473.99.
The market bellwether opened 1.14 points lower at 1,472.85 and moved between 1,470.59 and 1,476.14 throughout the session.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 421 versus 350, while 365 counters were unchanged, 1,078 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.81 billion units worth RM803.17 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the current weakness in the local bourse provides an excellent opportunity for investors to accumulate stocks, especially in major sectors such as banks, plantations and telcos.
“We expect the index to trend between 1,470 and 1,485 today,” it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.30, TNB gained one sen to RM9.31, and Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.71 and RM5.70, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals trimmed 20 sen to RM8.40 and IHH Healthcare shed three sen to RM5.98.
As for the actives, L&P Global and Advance Synergy edged up half-a-sen each to 55 sen and 17.5 sen, respectively, and Cypark advanced 2.5 sen to 54.5 sen, while Progressive Impact was flat at 26.5 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated slid three sen to 19 sen and Reneuco went down four sen to 32 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 5.65 points to 10,581.70, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 7.78 points to 10,293.64, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 25.13 points to 10,771.70, the FBM 70 Index was 22.33 points easier at 12,981.46, while the FBM ACE Index slid 12.70 points to 5,324.45.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 7.23 points to 16,366.52, the Plantation Index contracted 23.99 points to 6,949.84, the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 0.76 of-a-point to 181.14, and the Energy Index added 1.59 points to 782.94. ― Bernama
