KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at midmorning as profit-taking emerged among selected heavyweights, bucking the positive trend in regional markets, dealers said.
At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 16.09 points to 1,538.47 from yesterday's close of 1,554.56. The benchmark index opened 11.05 points weaker at 1,543.51.
On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 415 to 362, while 467 counters were unchanged, 1,070 untraded and 12 suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.83 billion units worth RM787.99 million.
ActivTrades’ trader Anderson Alves told Bernama that Asian stock markets are set for gains today, supported by Wall Street’s rebound as stocks rose from early lows despite higher-than-expected United States (US) consumer price index data.
“Going forward, Asian stocks are likely to maintain their upward trajectory even if market players begin to anticipate softer US data in the near term,” he said.
Back home, heavyweights Maybank was 2.0 sen higher at RM9.54 and Tenaga Nasional jumped 10 sen to RM11.58, while Public Bank slipped 1.0 sen to RM4.20, CIMB fell 3.0 sen to RM6.69 and Petronas Chemicals went down 5.0 sen to RM6.87.
Among the actives, Hong Seng and Twl Holdings were flat at 1.5 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively, while Pan Malaysia went up 3.5 sen to 26 sen and Malayan United added 1.0 sen to 7.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 79.68 points weaker at 11,431.76, the FBMT 100 Index lost 85.18 points to 11,096.51, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 27.86 points to 11,503.53 and the FBM ACE Index slipped 36.88 points to 4,685.13, while the FBM 70 Index improved 8.28 points to 15,491.17.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 256.54 points to 17,186.48, the Plantation Index decreased by 40.88 points to 7,315.72, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.19 points to 175.80, while the Energy Index gained 4.06 points to 901.10. ― Bernama
