KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session weaker on continued profit-taking against selected heavyweights, amid the cautious performance of regional stock markets, dealers said.
At Tuesday's (Jan 17) lunch break, the benchmark FBM KLCI had slipped 2.79 points to 1,490.77, from Monday's close at 1,493.56.
The market bellwether, which opened 1.03 points weaker at 1,492.53, moved between 1,488.95 and 1,493.06 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth was also negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 399 versus 322, while 397 counters were unchanged, 1,074 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.58 billion units worth RM951.62 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said trading may remain lacklustre in the absence of fresh catalysts, “thus expect the index to trend between 1,490 and 1,500 today (Tuesday), with interest to focus on plantation and utilities, which experienced some selldown yesterday”.
“Wall Street was closed for Martin Luther King’s holiday on Monday. Nonetheless, Hong Kong equities maintained their upward trajectory, following China’s central bank’s injection of liquidity into the system amounting to US$116 billion (RM501.99 billion),” he told Bernama.
Back home, he said late buying activities again helped pushed the KLCI to end on a flat note.
“As suspected, we see the 1,500 level as a stubborn psychological level to break. Meanwhile, profit-taking activities saw crude oil prices lower, with Brent crude easing to US$84 per barrel,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) dropped one sen to RM8.77 a share, while Public Bank fell one sen too to RM4.31, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd shed six sen to RM8.44, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) declined four sen to RM9.41, while CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was flat at RM5.76.
As for the actives, Main Market debutant Kumpulan Kitacon Bhd went up 10.5 sen to 78.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) advanced 2.5 sen to 58.5 sen, NationGate Holdings Bhd gained 11 sen to RM1.16, while Sapura Energy Bhd was flat at 5.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 19.72 points to 10,774.77, the FBMT 100 Index declined 19.89 points to 10,469.46, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 15.92 points to 10,996.43, the FBM 70 Index reduced 26.74 points to 13,436.35, and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 41.86 points to 5,458.12.
Sector-wise, the Transportation and Logistics Index ticked down 3.75 points to 920.73, the Energy Index eased 2.12 points to 818.77, and the Technology Index was down 0.27 point to 66.61.
The Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.02 point to 186.91, and the Financial Services Index was 48.27 points weaker at 16,511.05. The Plantation Index added 1.10 points to 6,900.43.
