Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia remained lower by midday as investor sentiment weakened, influenced by the lack of concrete deals and policy breakthroughs following US President Donald Trump's visit to China. At 12:30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 6.60 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,733.62, down from last Friday's close of 1,740.22. The benchmark index, which opened 1.72 points higher at 1,741.94, fluctuated between 1,731.11 and 1,742.60 during the morning session.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, market breadth was negative with 794 losers surpassing 312 gainers, while 483 counters remained unchanged, 1,125 were untraded, and 32 were suspended. The turnover reached 2.0 billion units valued at RM1.32 billion. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that China's President Xi Jinping's warning on Taiwan's independence, combined with the unresolved trade truce, intensified a risk-off mood across global financial markets. Consequently, Wall Street closed broadly lower as traders opted to lock in profits, particularly on tech stocks. The US 10-year yield edged higher at 4.597 percent amid inflationary pressure. Thong projected the index would hover within the 1,735-1,750 range today.
Among the heavyweights, IHH Healthcare rose two sen to RM9.06, while Maybank slipped two sen to RM11.08. Public Bank and CIMB each fell five sen to RM4.86 and RM7.83, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional remained flat at RM14.54. The most active counters included GIIB, which increased 1.5 sen to 30.5 sen, and Advance Synergy and Top Glove, which edged up one sen each to 8.5 sen and 79 sen, respectively. Conversely, VS Industry gave up half a sen to 20 sen, and AirAsia X slid three sen to RM1.12.
Among the top gainers, Allianz Malaysia jumped 26 sen to RM21.74, Westports surged 19 sen to RM6.00, Vitrox Corporation went up 15 sen to RM6.14, Tong Herr Resources added 13 sen to RM1.75, and Petronas Chemicals gained 11 sen to RM5.70. Conversely, among the top losers, Nestle lost RM4.60 to RM95.60, Malaysian Pacific Industries dropped 96 sen to RM43.14, Batu Kawan slid 54 sen to RM20.44, Petronas Gas fell 34 sen to RM17.84, and PPB Group eased by 28 sen at RM10.52.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index erased 68.25 points to 12,826.62, while the FBM Top 100 Index weakened by 64.66 points to 12,668.65. The FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 56.67 points to 12,766.18, the FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 163.96 points to 18,341.05, and the FBM ACE Index edged down 50.52 points to 4,692.22. By sector, the Financial Services Index reduced 83.84 points to 20,170.47, the Energy Index eased 3.17 points to 805.72, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.58 of a point to 199.37, though the Plantation Index improved by 20.59 points to 8,606.02.