KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 ― Bursa Malaysia was mixed at mid-afternoon with the key index up by 0.27 per cent while the broader market was negative, amid a weaker regional trend due to escalating tensions in the Middle East conflict.
At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.16 points to 1,548.92 from yesterday's close of 1,544.76.
The benchmark index opened 1.54 points better at 1,546.30.
The market breadth was negative with decliners thumping gainers 972 to 210 while 353 counters were unchanged, 841 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 3.61 billion units worth RM2.15 billion.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 2.66 per cent to 37,068.35, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.00 per cent to 16,222.26, South Korea’s Kospi shed 1.63 per cent to 2,591.86, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.38 per cent to 3,175.70, and China's SSE Composite Index dipped 0.29 per cent to 3,065.26.
Back home, heavyweights Maybank added two sen to RM9.69, Public Bank gained three sen to RM4.17, CIMB ticked down one sen to RM6.58, Petronas Chemicals fell three sen to RM6.81, and Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM11.60.
As for the actives, TWL Holdings, Ingenieur Gudang, Velesto Energy and Bina Puri Holdings were all flat at three sen, 14 sen, 27 sen, and eight sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index erased 22.86 points to 11,594.11, the FBM 70 Index tumbled 165.23 points to 16,019.43, the FBMT 100 Index eased 7.33 points to 11,248.20, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 36.34 points weaker at 11,751.99, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 128.98 points to 4,818.54.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 29.07 points to 17,161.71, the Energy Index climbed 10.46 points to 962.46, the Plantation Index garnered 24.96 points to 7,379.41, and the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 0.73 of-a-point to 183.72. ― Bernama
