BURSA SLIDES AT NOON BREAK ON SIDEWAYS TRADING

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trade session in the red as investors hesitated to make their move ahead of the United States’ (US) presidential election next week and upcoming data that could influence the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.18 points to 1,609.90 from yesterday's close of 1,615.08. 

The benchmark index opened 0.18 of-a-point lower at 1,614.90 and moved between 1,606.84 and 1,615.36 throughout the session.

On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 605 to 281, while 428 counters were unchanged, 1,178 untraded, and 123 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.31 billion units valued at RM1.11 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the market sentiment is weak, with the FBM KLCI highly likely to dip to the psychological support of 1,600.

“Overall sentiments remain cautious as depicted by the low volume traded,” he noted.

Regional leads were dim as most markets were in the red as market participants await the US’ advanced third-quarter gross domestic product to be released later tonight, followed by the US core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index tomorrow.

Tech giants are also scheduled to release their results soon. 

Back home, Maxis led the list of decliners, losing 13 sen to RM3.67. Sime Darby slipped 10 sen to RM2.35, CIMB was eight sen weaker at RM8.01 and Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.44, while HLFG traded ex-dividend today, adding six sen to RM18.54.

Among the active counters, MyEG shaved 2.5 sen to 84 sen, Talam Transform and Sorento Capital were flat at 2.0 sen and 37 sen, respectively, and Bahvest reduced one sen to 81.5 sen, while Niche Capital bagged one sen to 19.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 35.20 points to 12,144.75, the FBMT 100 Index lost 30.85 points to 11,858.48 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 31.09 points to 12,117.28.

The FBM 70 Index slid 18.78 points to 17,614.72 and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 22.83 points to 5,009.45.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slipped 63.92 points to 19,095.03, the Plantation Index dropped 40.20 points to 7,295.14, the Energy Index gave up 4.07 points to 831.89 and the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.08 of-a-point to 174.87.

-- BERNAMA