BURSA MALAYSIA LOWER AT MIDDAY ON PROFIT-TAKING ACTIVITIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended easier at midday on continued profit-taking activities in heavyweight stocks, led by the industrial products and services as well as financial services sectors.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 2.71 points to 1,612.93 from Thursday’s close of 1,615.64. 

The index opened 0.21 of-a-point higher at 1,615.85 and moved between 1,611.25 and 1,617.57 during the morning session.

Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 451 to 411, while 504 counters were unchanged, 1,110 untraded and 12 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.89 billion units valued at RM1.21 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note today that profit-taking activities are expected to occur on the local bourse following the negative performance on Wall Street overnight.

However, the research outfit believes that buying interest will emerge in the utilities, construction and building materials sectors, driven by earlier data centre investments and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven trades, which should positively impact their earnings.

“Besides, we like the technology sector as NationGate Holdings Bhd will be the first in Malaysia to manufacture AI servers.

“Also, we expect continued buying in plantation stocks as we enter a seasonally lower production period for palm oil, which should further support prices,” it added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank, CIMB and IHH fell two sen each to RM10.20, RM8.17 and RM7.31. Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.56 and Tenaga Nasional slipped eight sen to RM13.52.

Of the active stocks, Supermax gained 7.5 sen to RM1.06, Top Glove went up two sen to RM1.27 and WCT rose 4.5 sen to 93.5 sen. In contrast, YNH Property shed 11.5 sen to 59 sen and Zen Tech was flat at one sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 4.02 points to 12,324.17 and the FBMT 100 Index fell 6.79 points to 12,007.49. However, the FBM 70 Index jumped 38.40 points to 18,303.94. 

The FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 13.02 points to 12,291.08, but the FBM ACE Index gained 11.88 points to 5,256.64.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 28.23 points to 19,164.79, the Plantation Index weakened 17.50 points to 7,760.75, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.34 of-a-point to 174.98. The Energy Index added 6.86 points to 827.42.

-- BERNAMA