BURSA MALAYSIA RETREATS AT MIDDAY ON CONTINUOUS PROFIT-TAKING

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia retreated at midday today, following a mixed performance earlier at midmorning as continuous profit-taking activities persisted despite mostly positive regional market trends.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.33 points to 1,519.26 from yesterday’s close of 1,521.59.

The index had opened 0.61 of-a-point lower at 1,520.98, and moved between 1,518.68 and 1,524.50 during the morning trading session.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 411 to 336, while 449 counters were unchanged, 1,244 untraded and 117 suspended. Turnover stood at 2.18 billion shares worth RM893.3 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the market movements were likely taking a pause after several days of uptrend.

Yesterday, the local bourse closed at an intra-day high, marking its fourth consecutive session of gains.

“This is a healthy correction for the index to digest and it also provides a base for the index to form a new uptrend,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank shed one sen to RM4.44, IHH Healthcare slid three sen to RM6.86, while Maybank, Tenaga Nasional and CIMB were all flat at RM9.99, RM13.60 and RM6.99 respectively. 

In active trade, NEXG declined three sen to 34 sen, ACE debutant WTEC Group eased two sen to 23 sen, Tanco was unchanged at 88 sen, while Velesto added half-a-sen to 16 sen and Notion VTec rose 2.5 sen to 72 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 9.68 points to 11,291.13, the FBMT 100 Index edged down 10.51 points to 11,061.26, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 11.45 points to 11,136.87, and the FBM ACE Index eased 14.10 points to 4,615.99 while the FBM 70 Index gained 10.50 points to 15,885.84.

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index decreased 49.22 points to 18,114.10, the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.13 of-a-point to 149.48, the Plantation Index was 30.41 points down to 7,193.21 while the Energy Index rose 2.91 points to 678.48.

-- BERNAMA