BURSA MALAYSIA DOWN AT MIDDAY, TRACKING REGIONAL MARKET PERFORMANCE

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower in line with the regional markets, tracking the weaker Wall Street performance overnight. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 10.26 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 1,617.17 from Monday’s close of 1,627.43. 

The benchmark index, which opened 0.43 of a point easier at 1,627.0, fluctuated between 1,616.43 and 1,627.32 during the session.

In the broader market, decliners trounced gainers 777 to 282, while 463 counters were unchanged, 1,245 untraded and 11 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 2.97 billion units valued at RM1.5 billion.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.43 per cent to 4,524.05, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.47 per cent to 25,997.20 and Japan's Nikkei 225 went down 2.90 per cent to 25,997.20.

Among heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, YTL Power edged up one sen to RM3.73, Gamuda gained three sen to RM5.27, Telekom Malaysia jumped eight sen to RM7.29, Maybank was flat at RM9.92, Public Bank shed three sen to RM4.27, CIMB gave up 11 sen to RM7.50, and TNB declined eight sen to RM13.20.  

On the most active list, Tanco rose two sen to 98.5 sen, MMAG notched up one sen to seven sen, PMW slipped half-a-sen to 33.5 sen, and Genetec declined three sen to 37.5 sen. 

Top gainers included Nestle which garnered 50 sen to RM112.90, Bintulu Port which advanced 27 sen to RM5.28, United Plantations which improved 24 sen to RM27.04, and Hong Leong Industries which climbed 20 sen to RM15.30. 

Among the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries dipped 76 sen to RM30.74, Petronas Dagangan slid 56 sen to RM21.54, Kuala Lumpur Kepong dropped 26 sen to RM20.50, and SAM Engineering & Equipment lost 23 sen to RM4.08. 

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 75.90 points to 11,764.74, the FBM Emas Index was 78.58 points easier at 11,994.51, the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 84.22 points to 11,989.82, the FBM Mid 70 Index retreated 114.05 points to 16,822.57, and the FBM ACE Index fell 95.94 points to 4,919.33. 

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index sank 22.91 points to 8,095.23, the Financial Services Index fell 110.11 points to 18,386.01, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.66 points to 165.63, and the Energy Index slipped 0.15 of a point to 760.85.  

-- BERNAMA