KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): Bursa Malaysia remained broadly lower at the end of Thursday’s morning trading session, but the market bellwether managed to stay above the 1,500 psychological level amidst the weak market sentiment.
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At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 14.46 points to 1,533.49 from Wednesday’s closing of 1,547.95.
The index, which opened 1.49 points weaker at 1,546.46, moved between 1,533.16 and 1,546.5 throughout the session.
The overall market breadth was bearish with losers significantly outnumbering gainers 645 to 220, while 344 counters were unchanged, 1,064 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.76 billion units valued at RM953.67 million.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said sentiment on the local bourse might turn cautious on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s negative performance overnight.
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This was following the US Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes in December which had a more hawkish tone, signalling that the market may anticipate faster rate hikes and quicker tapering progress, it said.
Back home, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd and Public Bank Bhd shed five sen each to RM8.30 and RM4.12, respectively, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd trimmed three sen to RM8.75, IHH Healthcare Bhd fell 11 sen to RM6.75, while CIMB Group Holdings Bhd lost seven sen to RM5.40.
Of the actives, Key Alliance Group Bhd, SMTrack Bhd, and Dagang NeXchange Bhd inched up half-a-sen each to two sen, 26.5 sen and 84.5 sen, respectively, while Pasukhas Group Bhd was flat at 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 98.26 points lower at 11,151.49, FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 105.62 points to 11,996.5, FBMT 100 Index decreased 96.78 points to 10,840.09, FBM ACE lost 136.34 points to 6,547.6, and FBM 70 fell 103.85 points to 14,263.16.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 125.22 points to 15,587.66, and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.6 points to 200.76.
However, the Plantation Index improved 1.82 points to 6,656.24 amidst rising crude palm oil (CPO) price on the back of concerns over supply disruption due to the flood situation.-BERNAMA