KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower despite positive Wall Street performance overnight as negotiations in West Asia appeared to stall less than a day after a ceasefire agreement was reached.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 12.75 points or 0.75 per cent to 1,683.56, from Wednesday’s close of 1,696.31.
The benchmark index opened 3.66 points lower at 1,692.65 and moved between 1,680.74 and 1,692.65 throughout the session.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 596 to 311, while 483 counters were unchanged, 1,318 untraded, and 12 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.68 billion units worth RM1.22 billion.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.38 per cent to 4,977.24, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.35 per cent to 25,801.87, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.82 per cent to 55,849.34.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals jumped 20 sen to RM5.79, TNB was flat at RM14.06, Maybank trimmed 12 sen to RM11.20, Public Bank slid eight sen to RM4.62, and CIMB was 11 sen lower at RM7.45.
On the most active list, Top Glove bagged 5.5 sen to 79 sen, Bumi Armada grew one sen to 36.5 sen, Borneo Oil was flat at half-a-sen, Zetrix AI shrank one sen to 75 sen, and VS Industry inched down half-a-sen to 19 sen.
Among the top gainers, United Plantations went up 18 sen to RM32.82, Hibiscus Petroleum widened 16 sen to RM2.10, Country View climbed 12 sen to RM3.07, and Hartalega garnered 11 sen to RM1.21.
As for top losers, Nestle dwindled RM1.30 to RM99.70, Petronas Dagangan contracted RM1.12 to RM20.86, PPB declined 30 sen to RM11.90, and Malaysian Pacific Industries erased 14 sen to RM29.26.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index slipped 78.77 points to 12,185.15, the FBM Emas Index went down 78.25 points to 12,334.68, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 38.72 points to 12,202.91, the FBM ACE Index down by 50.89 points to 4,371.67, and the FBM Mid 70 Index weakened by 52.30 points to 17,136.42.
By sector, the Financial Services Index shed 214.45 points to 19,753.27, the Plantation Index put on 26.70 points to 8,944.11, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.05 of-a-point to 183.92, and the Energy Index jumped 12.30 points to 810.24. – BERNAMA
