BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS MORNING SESSION LOWER

By Zarul Effendi Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today, mirroring most of the regional markets, as sentiment remained cautious due to the Middle East tensions, said an analyst.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 3.70 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 1,635.61, from Wednesday’s close of 1,639.31. 

The benchmark index, which opened 1.39 points higher at 1,640.70, was continuously in the red after the first 20 minutes of trading.

In the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 498 to 358, with 464 counters unchanged, 1,092 untraded and nine suspended. 

Turnover amounted to 1.84 billion units valued at RM1.12 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said regionally, sentiment had turned extremely cautious amid the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

“Judging by the recent unloading of riskier assets, we believe investors may have switched to the ‘cash is king’ mode. Nonetheless, we expect some bargain-hunting activities to emerge and anticipate the index to hover within the 1,635-1,645 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM10.46 and RM7.24, respectively, Public Bank added 2.0 sen to RM4.55, CIMB Group slipped 2.0 sen to RM7.96, and Tenaga Nasional declined 20 sen to RM14.10.

Of the active counters, OCR Group and Parkson Holdings fell 1.0 sen each to 4.5 sen and 19 sen, respectively, Lay Hong eased half-a-sen to 39.5 sen, and Classita Holdings was flat at 4.0 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 30.93 points to 12,235.22, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 31.48 points to 11,929.54, and the FBM 70 Index erased 62.29 points to 17,283.04.  

The FBM ACE Index lost 10.40 points to 5,115.42, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 51.98 points to 12,152.15.  

By sector, the Plantation Index rose 14.07 points to 7,186.12, the Financial Services Index gained 36.97 points to 19,201.81, and the Energy Index improved 9.24 points to 860.34.

However, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.03 of-a-point to 176.51.

-- BERNAMA