KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to end the morning trading session lower, with selling mostly spotted among the heavyweights led by financial services and construction counters.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 9.85 points to 1,517.96 from Monday’s close of 1,527.81.
The benchmark index opened 14.52 points lower at 1,513.29 and moved between 1,512.21 and 1,523.39 throughout the session.
On the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 435 to 364, while 420 counters were unchanged, 1,217 untraded, and seven suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.97 billion shares worth RM1.36 billion.
Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed yesterday in conjunction with the Nuzul Al-Quran public holiday.
A dealer said the local bourse remained in the red since the opening bell today, with selling pressure in selected heavyweight stocks weighing on the barometer index.
However, he added that most major bourses in Asia trended higher despite the United States (US) Federal Reserve’s (Fed) upcoming announcement on interest rates on March 19, following the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where the Fed is widely expected to maintain its interest rate.
Meanwhile, US stocks dropped significantly on Tuesday as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy decision while also assessing the potential impact of President Donald Trump's tariff policies, the dealer said.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a note today, said that given the weakness in the US, selling interest is expected to spill over into local technology stocks, limiting the upside potential of the recent rebound.
“Additionally, investors may consider the upcoming initial public offering of Hi Mobility Bhd, which is set to benefit from the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone initiatives, the commencement of BAS.My services in Melaka and the Rapid KL contract secured last year,” it added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM10.38, and CIMB slipped 31 sen to RM6.94. Public Bank and IHH Healthcare increased one sen each to RM4.55 and RM7.10, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional bagged two sen to RM13.58.
As for the active stocks, Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen to five sen, Pertama Digital added 5.5 sen to 16.5 sen, Sedania gained 3.5 sen to 12.5 sen, and NationGate improved three sen to RM1.38.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 64.72 points to 11,359.76, the FBMT 100 Index weakened 70.06 points to 11,117.74, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 36.62 points to 11,047.38.
The FBM 70 Index shed 94.05 points to 16,229.70, and the FBM ACE Index eased 3.76 points to 4,687.39.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.41 of-a-point to 154.65, and the Financial Services Index fell 168.15 points to 18,627.99, while the Energy Index went up 5.91 points to 741.27 and the Plantation Index increased 3.82 points to 7,420.07.
-- BERNAMA
