Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend and extended its decline at midday on continuous selling in selected heavyweight stocks due to mild profit-taking.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 1.36 points to 1,715.78, from yesterday’s close of 1,717.14.
The barometer index had opened 1.30 points lower at 1,715.84, and fluctuated between 1,711.89 and 1,717.03 during the morning trading session.
Market breadth was negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 476 to 453. Some 548 counters were unchanged, while 1,253 were untraded and 21 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.77 billion shares worth RM1.47 billion.
Regional markets are on a positive note after the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) latest policy meeting kept rates on hold at 0.75 per cent after concluding its two-day policy meeting today.
However, yesterday’s stellar performance at close has kept the FBM KLCI moving downward on mild profit-taking.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB fell three sen each to RM11.20, RM4.76 and RM8.28, respectively. Tenaga Nasional added two sen to RM13.88, and IHH Healthcare rose one sen to RM8.50.
On the most active list, Capital A rose 2.5 sen to 54.5 sen, Zetrix AI expanded half-a-sen to 81.5 sen, Press Metal Aluminium edged up one sen to RM7.51, while Velesto Energy was down 10 sen to 30.5 sen and Tanco Holdings reduced two sen to RM1.29.
Top gainers included Kobay Technology, up 17 sen to RM1.89, Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia jumped 18 sen to RM1.91, Fraser & Neave Holdings and Hong Leong Industries were up 20 sen to RM35.84 and RM17.18, respectively, and Dutch Lady Milk Industries put on 16 sen to RM32.10.
Leading decliners were Nestle, down RM2 to RM115, Petronas Dagangan, 22 sen lower at RM20.98, United Plantations fell 30 sen to RM30.42, Petronas Gas slipped 16 sen to RM18.54, and Hong Leong Bank shaved 22 sen to RM23.98.
On the broader market, the FBM Top 100 Index lost 4.77 points to 12,438.78, and the FBM ACE Index lost 20.13 points to 4,917.17, and the FBM Emas Index slid 3.96 points to 12,645.39.
However, the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 16.26 points to 17,599.00, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bagged 7.95 points to 12,323.20.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 60.68 points to 20,695.57, and the Energy Index trimmed 5.62 points to 772.76, while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.33 of-a-point to 177.19, and the Plantation Index ticked up 16.02 points to 8,374.64.
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