KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session in the red, in line with regional peers, after the United States (US) stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday, dealers said.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.93 points to 1.444.61 from Wednesday’s closing of 1,446.54.
The index, which opened 3.28 points lower at 1,443.26, moved between 1,441.34 and 1,445.18 during the session.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 438 to 280, while 429 counters were unchanged, 1,204 untraded and 10 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.72 billion units worth RM880.65 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng said the overnight Wall Street closed broadly lower amidst a surging United States Treasury 10-year yield, while traders ignored reported earnings where the majority came in above expectations.
“For today, we reckon accumulation of stocks to persist but muted, thus we anticipate the index to move in a tight range of between 1,440 and 1,450 today,” he said.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.64 per cent to 3,151.59, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.07 per cent to 32,018.52, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index trimmed 0.10 per cent to 17,755.25 and China’s SSE Composite slipped 0.61 per cent to 3,064.76, while South Korea’s Kospi added 0.07 per cent to 2,461.81.
Back home, Bursa heavyweights Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional shed three sen each to RM4.14 and RM9.99, respectively, and Petronas Chemicals fell 17 sen to RM7.48, while CIMB added two sen to RM5.59, and Maybank was flat at RM8.95.
Of the actives, Icon reduced two sen to 11 sen, Minox edged up half-a-sen to 34 sen, Sealink added 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen and UEM Sunrise gained three sen to 78 sen while Sarawak Consolidated was flat at 52 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 18.95 points to 10,654.80, the FBMT 100 Index shed 18.30 points to 10,328.26, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 27.12 points to 10,920.95, the FBM 70 Index fell 44.57 points to 14,034.58 and the FBM ACE Index lost 12.03 points to 5,059.80.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.64 points to 174.90 and the Financial Services Index eased 2.43 points to 16,163.41, while the Energy Index climbed 1.32 points to 880.01 and the Plantation Index increased by 9.11 points to 6,937.49. - Bernama