Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower on Friday (Jan 27), weighed down by selling in selected heavyweights in the financial services and telecommunications and media sectors, dealers said.

At lunch break, the benchmark FBM KLCI had fallen 3.95 points to 1,494.44, from Thursday’s close at 1,498.39.

The market bellwether opened 1.58 points higher at 1,499.97, and moved between 1,493.22 and 1,500.91 throughout the morning session. 

However, on the broader market, gainers led decliners 453 to 370, while 398 counters were unchanged, 1,026 untraded, and 49 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.81 billion units worth RM1.20 billion.

A dealer said the local bourse opened higher, but fell into negative territory in range-bound trading in the mid-morning.

She said Bursa also continued to drift sideways, bucking the uptrend on regional bourses, as Asian equities soared higher, lifted by positive sentiment brought about by strong performance of global equities.

US stock markets, in particular, rebounded to their highest levels in nearly eight weeks, after the preliminary reading of the fourth quarter of 2022 gross domestic product showed a 2.9% year-on-year expansion, which was quicker than expected despite aggressive rate hikes there, she added.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.07% to 27,382.81, South Korea’s Kospi increased 0.70% to 2,485.87, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.43% to 3,391.67.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.05% to 22,555.27. 

Back home, Bursa heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) shed two sen to RM8.76 a share, Public Bank Bhd slipped three sen to RM4.25, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added two sen to RM5.74, Tenaga Nasional Bhd gained three sen to RM9.55, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was flat at RM8.51.

As for the actives, MMAG Holdings Bhd edged up half a sen to 2.5 sen, ATA IMS Bhd rose 8.5 sen to 48 sen, Aimflex Bhd gained one sen to 17.5 sen, Nylex (Malaysia) Bhd bagged 7.5 sen to 50.5 sen, and Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) earned 3.5 sen to 67 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 8.44 points to 10,872.48, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 11.17 points to 10,542.93, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 4.63 points to 11,144.50.

The FBM 70 Index rose 57.25 points to 13,736.72, and the FBM ACE Index increased 22.37 points to 5,709.96.  

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved by 0.41 of a point to 190.96, the Energy Index added 6.05 points to 876.69, the Plantation Index lost 10.94 points to 6,832.67, and the Financial Services Index fell 33.88 points to 16,469.91.

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