malay02

Bursa Malaysia stays in negative territory at mid-afternoon

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at mid-afternoon today on persistent selling in selected heavyweights, mirroring the weaker sentiment in the regional equity markets, dealers said.

At 3pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 5.12 points to 1,541.70 from yesterday’s close of 1,546.82.  

Market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 630 to 310, while 400 counters were unchanged, 964 untraded and 85 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.39 billion units worth RM1.64 billion.

A dealer said most of the Asian markets were weaker today as investors grew cautious over the United States’ debt limit expiry and the likelihood of China’s Evergrande defaulting on interest payments on company bonds, which is due today.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank and Public Bank slipped 2.0 sen each to RM8.08 and RM4.09, respectively, IHH Healthcare declined 4.0 sen to RM6.66, while Petronas Chemicals rose 5.0 sen to RM8.70 and TNB added 9.0 sen to RM9.77.

Of the actives, DNex fell 2.0 sen to 78.5 sen, while CEKD jumped 7.5 sen to 55.5 sen, Destini improved 1.0 sen to 29.5 sen and Encorp gained 2.5 sen to 62 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 28.65 points to 11,303.18, the FBMT 100 Index was 27.90 points easier at 11,001.09 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 33.71 points to 12,341.57. 

The FBM 70 shed 4.01 points to 14,888.17 and the FBM ACE fell 51.45 points to 7,134.63.   

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 1.45 points to 6,337.01 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.56 of-a-point to 204.65, while the Financial Services Index dipped 10.73 points to 15,20.30. — Bernama