BURSA MALAYSIA TRIMS LOSS AT MIDDAY, BARGAIN HUNTING LIFTS KEY INDEX ABOVE 1,600

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s main index ended the morning session above the psychological support level of 1,600 points, spurred by bargain hunting activities in blue chips and mid-cap stocks. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shaved 0.27 of a point, or 0.02 per cent, to 1,601.61, led mainly by SD Guthrie and YTL Power. The benchmark index opened 10.82 points lower at 1,591.06 from Wednesday's close of 1,601.88. After 11.30 am, the index began to alternate between loss and gain, fluctuating between 1,589.27 and 1,603.28 points.

Across the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 524 to 355 while 430 counters were unchanged, 1,066 untraded and 30 suspended. Turnover stood at 1.21 billion shares valued at RM1.20 billion.

However, the overall sentiment remained fragile amid weak cues from Wall Street and ahead of the US monthly jobs report later today as well as the US presidential election next week. The uncertainty about the outlook of US interest rate cuts also weighed on market sentiment, causing regional markets to trade cautiously.

At home, plantation and energy-related sectors gained the most, riding on crude palm oil's rally and stronger crude oil prices amid expectations of increased demand from the United States and a likely delay in output increase by OPEC.

This lifted SD Guthrie to lead heavyweight gainers, with the counter bouncing 12 sen to RM4.72.

YTL Power rose eight sen to RM3.19 while Axiata and IHH were six sen better at RM2.32 and RM7.31, respectively. Public Bank added two sen to RM4.44 while Tenaga Nasional remained the main laggard, losing 16 sen to RM13.88, followed by Petronas Chemicals, which declined nine sen to RM5.33.

Among active counters, Bina Puri slid two sen to 34 sen while Classita and Talam Transform rose half-a-sen each to 4.0 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively, and MyEG added one sen to 84.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index ticked up 9.26 points to 12,112.49, the FBMT 100 Index garnered 10.01 points to 11,824.11, the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 13.12 points to 12,075.28 and the FBM 70 Index collected 59.24 points to 17,662.11. The FBM ACE Index dropped 24.14 points to 4,981.51.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 61.57 points to 19,025.11 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.13 points to 173.04.  The Energy Index gained 6.61 points to 841.86 and the Plantation Index gained 89.94 points to 7,343.71. 

-- BERNAMA