Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia closed the morning trading session slightly lower, driven by profit-taking activities in the absence of new domestic catalysts.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) recorded a marginal decline of 0.08 of-a-point, settling at 1,672.27 compared to Tuesday's close of 1,672.35. The trading day commenced with the benchmark index 0.88 of-a-point lower at 1,671.47.
The broader market saw a greater number of decliners, with 524 counters falling against 355 gainers. A total of 508 counters remained unchanged, while 1,262 were not traded, and 10 were suspended. The turnover for the session was 1.57 billion shares, valued at RM1.18 billion.
A note from Apex Research highlighted that investors are maintaining a focus on the United States' monetary policy expectations and the anticipated US nonfarm payrolls report, which is scheduled for release on Friday. These factors are expected to have an impact on global risk sentiment. The note also mentioned that buying interest in the local market might be influenced by global cues, geopolitical developments in Venezuela, and optimism in certain sectors, especially technology.
Heavyweight stocks showed mixed performances, with Petronas Dagangan rising six sen to RM19.90 and TNB gaining eight sen to RM13.66. Public Bank and Maybank remained unchanged at RM4.52 and RM10.70, respectively, while Hong Leong Bank decreased by four sen to RM22.70.
Among the most actively traded stocks, Tanco increased by two sen to RM1.21, IJM Corp surged 17 sen to RM2.71, and THMY added three sen to RM1.05. OCR and Bina Puri remained flat at 4.5 sen and 29.5 sen, while Capital A dropped 3.5 sen to 41 sen.
In the list of top gainers, BLD Plantation rose by RM1.18 to RM15.80, United Plantations increased by 72 sen to RM31.20, Hong Leong Industries went up by 36 sen to RM16.64, and IGB improved by 20 sen to RM3.25.
Conversely, Alliance saw a decline of 20 sen to RM20.20, Kelington dropped 17 sen to RM4.80, Hong Leong Financial Group fell by 12 sen to RM19.16, and QL Resources decreased by 11 sen to RM3.80.
On the index front, the FBM Emas Index edged up 0.26 points to 12,328.08, while the FBM Top 100 Index increased by 1.83 points to 12,121.46. The FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 3.24 points to 12,132.83, the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 13.40 points to 17,141.58, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 23.58 points to 4,927.32.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index narrowed by 15.11 points to 19,755.51, the Energy Index fell 4.94 points to 762.34, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.20 of-a-point to 172.35, while the Plantation Index saw an increase of 59.33 points to 8,350.44.