KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 ― Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to end the morning trading session lower, with selling mostly spotted among the heavyweights, led by Top Glove and MR DIY, amidst weak market catalysts, dealers said.
At midday, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.48 points to 1,568.54 from yesterday’s close of 1,574.02.
The market bellwether, which opened 2.26 points easier at 1,571.76, fluctuated between 1,566.62 and 1,573.66 throughout the session.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 575 to 288, while 451 counters were unchanged, 875 untraded, and 12 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 3.1 billion units worth RM1.47 billion.
A dealer said the decline in new daily Covid-19 cases in the country ― where the daily tally has remained below 5,000 for two consecutive days ― curbed interest for rubber glove stocks.
In his Twitter post yesterday, Health Ministry’s director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that 4,743 cases were recorded on Tuesday, an increase of 232 cases from the previous day.
Of the heavyweights, both Public Bank and CIMB slipped one sen to RM4.19 and RM4.59, respectively, Tenaga trimmed six sen to RM9.98 and IHH shed two sen to RM5.73.
Maybank was flat at RM8.20, while PetChem bagged two sen to RM8.00.
Of the actives, Focus was flat at 4.5 sen, Saudee added one sen to 16 sen, Serba Dinamik slid 1.5 sen to 61 sen, Sanichi inched down half-a-sen to 7.5 sen, while ACE Market debutant, Pekat Group Bhd rose 52 sen to 84 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 34.54 points to 11,440.08, the FBMT 100 Index erased 35.3 points to 11,132.7, the FBM ACE fell 38.63 points to 7,583.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 48.85 points to 12,547.82, while the FBM 70 contracted 32.89 points to 14,832.9.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 15.23 points lower at 15,272.56, the Plantation Index gave up 2.53 points for 6,535.65, while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.11 of-a-point to 189.56. ― Bernama
