KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia turned lower at midday in sync with the regional markets’ downbeat performance and selling pressure on selected heavyweights.
Petronas Chemicals was 10 sen lower at RM7.09 and Sime Darby Plantation
eased five sen to RM4.50. These counters dragged the composite index down by a combined 1.88 points.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 0.18 of-a-point to 1,465.10 versus yesterday's close of 1,465.28.
The FBM KLCI opened 1.28 points better at 1,466.56 and moved between 1,464.55 and 1,467.49 throughout the session.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 430 to 384, while 425 counters were unchanged, 1,077 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.39 billion units valued at RM1.29 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said, with the strong technology stocks rally in the US, coupled with Chinese firms looking to Malaysia for assembly of high-end chip, the brokerage firm expects trading interest to continue within the tech sector at least for the near to mid-term.
"Meanwhile, we like the overall Johor-related theme with the ongoing infrastructure developments, this could boost the buying support within the construction, property, building material and utilities sectors,” it added.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare fell two sen each to RM8.98 and RM5.99 respectively, YTL Power International increased six sen to RM2.48, and YTL Corporation added three sen to RM1.89.
Of the actives, Iskandar Waterfront City perked up 6.5 sen to 68 sen, UEM Sunrise put on five sen to 82 sen, Careplus inched down half-a-sen to 46 sen, Top Glove lost 2.5 sen to 93.5 sen, while Leform was flat at 38.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 1.30 points to 10,859.73, the FBMT 100 Index went up 0.51 of-a-point to 10,524.83, the FBM ACE Index was 21.50 points higher at 5,182.90, the FBM 70 Index expanded 8.27 points to 14,519.82, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 1.00 points to 10,983.78.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index climbed 2.74 points to 816.14, the Financial Services Index slipped 12.40 points to 16,513.11, the Plantation Index slid 24.89 points to 7,007.05, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.92 of-a-point to 171.50. - Bernama
