Bursa Malaysia ends morning trading lower
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 20): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower on Monday, amid a mixed regional market performance.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.88 points to 1,455.79 from Friday (Nov 17)’s closing of 1,460.67.
The index opened 0.41 of-a-point point easier at 1,460.26 — its highest level on Mon morning — before moving to as low as 1,454.12 prior to lunch break.
The market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers at 431 versus 333, while 434 counters were unchanged, 1,176 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.66 billion units valued at RM822.93 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note that investors will be focusing on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes to be released at mid-week, for more clues on the US interest rate direction.
“Other data such as unemployment claims, as well as Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) due on Friday, will also be monitored,” it said.
Among the heavyweight counters, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd were flat at RM9.12 and RM9.96 respectively, while Public Bank Bhd eased three sen to RM4.20, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd lost five sen to RM5.75, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd gained six sen to RM7.28.
Of the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd and Leform Bhd rose half-a-sen each to four sen, 64.5 sen and 29 sen respectively; Top Glove Corp Bhd added three sen to 81.5 sen, and Daythree Digital Bhd shed one sen to 43.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 16.36 points to 10,783.62, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 18.39 points to 10,444.11, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 9.34 points to 10,995.40.
The FBM ACE Index gave up 25.54 points to 5,146.40, while the FBM 70 Index rose 47.08 points to 14,349.16.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 36.50 points to 16,346.14, the Plantation Index fell 9.52 points to 6,997.22, and the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.03 of-a-point to 173.89, but the Energy Index edged up 4.86 points to 857.36.
