KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Bursa Malaysia continued to trend lower at mid-afternoon today, led by the financial services counters.
At 3.05 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 15.9 points to 1,611.11.
The index opened 1.66 points lower at 1,625.35 compared with last Friday’s close of 1,627.01.
On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 762 to 397, while 366 counters were unchanged, 571 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 4.93 billion units worth RM2.74 billion.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is scheduled to deliver a special address on a special aid package that will be telecast live on television stations at 4pm today. Investors are waiting to hear what is in store in the package.
Banking stocks led the drop in the heavyweights counters, with Maybank losing 14 sen to RM8.11, CIMB sliding 11 sen to RM3.99 and Public Bank declining 24 sen to RM20.96.
PetChem dipped 11 sen to RM7.40 and Hong Leong Bank retreated 38 sen to RM17.42.
In contrast, IOI rose one sen to RM4.46 and Press Metal improved two sen to RM8.75.
Of the actives, Lambo, Key Alliance, PRG Holdings and Pegasus Heights were all unchanged at three sen, five sen, 28.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 82.87 points to 11,623.47, the FBMT 100 Index lost 86.43 points to 11,354.1, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 40.09 points to 13,164.6.
The FBM 70 dropped 12.94 points to 14,815.47, while the FBM ACE improved 49.87 points to 10,845.98.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index sank 237.86 points to 14,793.52, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.32 of-a-point to 178.48 and the Plantation Index fell 59.35 points to 7,306.01. — Bernama
