KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trade lower, mirroring global caution, ahead of key US jobs data later today, which is set to influence the magnitude of the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 7.62 points to 1,657.20 from Thursday’s close of 1,664.82.
The benchmark index began 4.65 points higher at 1,669.47 and moved between 1,671.83 and 1,653.83 throughout the session.
Across the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 599 to 231, with 417 counters unchanged, 1,208 untraded and 17 suspended.
Turnover totalled 1.2 billion units, valued at RM1.3 billion.
Regional markets were mostly in the red with investors refusing to make significant moves as they monitor tonight’s key US employment data, culminating with the release of August’s non-farm payrolls report.
If US non-farm payrolls are also lower than expected, some analysts foresee a possible 50 basis points cut.
On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed, offering limited support to the local market.
At home, heavyweights YTL Corp led laggards, easing 20 sen to RM2.50 while YTL Power was 19 sen weaker at RM3.50 and MISC lost 17 sen to RM8.11.
Petronas Chemicals and Sunway eased nine sen to RM5.51 and RM3.91, respectively.
Active counters included Steel Hawk, which climbed 4.5 sen to 39 sen while Cape EMS and Tanco rose one sen to 35 sen and RM1.09, respectively.
MYEG and Ta Win were flat at 91.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 70.52 points to 12,302.15, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 79.91 points to 12,094.28, and the FBMT 100 Index slid 68.16 points to 12,012.79.
The FBM 70 Index dipped 145.66 points to 17,126.27 while the FBM ACE Index edged down 10.34 points to 5,070.76.
By sector, the Financial Services Index put 11.89 points to 19,659.85 and the Plantation Index added 0.32 of-a-point to 7,225.41.
The Industrial Products and Services Index ticked down 2.76 points to 174.61 and the Energy Index weakened 5.00 points to 882.92. — Bernama
