BURSA MALAYSIA STAYS IN THE RED AT MIDDAY ON PROFIT-TAKING ACTIVITIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at midday on continuous profit-taking activities after the recent rally, with the main index losses dragged by YTL counters.

YTL Corp shed 20 sen to RM2.18 and YTL Power International decreased 33 sen to RM3.72, dragging the composite index down by a combined 8.37 points.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 4.09 points to 1,573.11 from yesterday’s close of 1,577.20.

The benchmark index opened 0.30 of-a-point higher at 1,577.50, and fluctuated between 1,566.84 and 1,577.50 throughout the morning trading session.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 634 to 222, with 423 counters unchanged, 1,142 untraded and 133 suspended.

Turnover reached 1.89 billion shares valued at RM1.41 billion.

As of midday, the FBM KLCI bucked the upbeat sentiment in most regional peers, buoyed by US President Donald Trump’s comment on a potential trade deal with China.

Earlier, market players reacted to Trump’s World Economic Forum speech that he is looking at a lower interest rate environment going forward, pressuring central banks.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan has raised its benchmark interest rate from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slid two sen to RM10.34, Tenaga Nasional was two sen weaker at RM13.78, Public Bank was flat at RM4.34, while CIMB added three sen to RM8.00 and IHH Healthcare increased one sen to RM7.18.

As for the active stocks, Oriental Kopi Holdings gave up 1.5 sen to 86 sen, Gamuda notched down eight sen to RM4.21, CBH Engineering Holdings edged down half-a-sen to 36.5 sen, while EA Holdings and Velesto Energy were flat at one sen and 19 sen respectively. 

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index dwindled 47.96 points to 12,034.81, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 44.18 points to 11,724.61, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 35.75 points to 11,914.35, the FBM ACE Index fell 13.65 points to 5,211.71, and the FBM 70 Index lost 118.59 points to 17,919.02.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index depreciated 9.46 points to 833.18, the Financial Services Index decreased 3.21 points to 18,859.13, and the Plantation Index reduced 22.01 points to 7,384.67 while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.34 of-a-point to 169.26,

-- BERNAMA