KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Bursa Malaysia fell to a near three-year low at mid-morning on continuous pressure from Wall Street negative performance overnight on the United States Federal Reserve’s next rate decision as well as US nonfarm payroll data to be released later today.
A dealer said news that former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was charged with corruption and money laundering had also contributed to the market jitters.
At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 10.40 points to 1,439.13 from yesterday’s closing of 1,449.53. The lowest level last seen was on March 22, 2020.
The key index opened 3.73 points lower at 1,445.80.
The market breadth was negative with decliners thumping gainers 572 to 171, while 297 counters were unchanged, 1,205 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.26 billion units worth RM822.43 million.
Meanwhile, market heavyweights Public Bank declined four sen to RM4.09, Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM6.99, Tenaga gave up nine sen to RM9.36, CIMB trimmed four sen to RM5.46, while Maybank inched up two sen to RM8.73.
Among the actives, newly listed Cape EMS rose 49 sen to RM1.39, Hong Seng Consolidated and Tanco Holdings were half-a-sen firmer at 15 sen and 48 sen respectively, while both Jade Marvel and Vinvest Capital remained unchanged at 31 sen and 22.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 74.50 points to 10,498.01, the FBM 70 Index fell 78.46 points to 13,375.21, the FBMT 100 Index dwindled by 70.29 points to 10,178.96, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 87.52 points to 10,722.66, and the FBM ACE Index dipped 104.23 points to 5,342.37.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 74.70 points to 16039.30, the Energy Index shed 11.12 points to 871.97, the Plantation Index shrank 40.32 points to 6,789.61 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.08 points to 173.75. — Bernama
