Kuala Lumpur: Bursa Malaysia turned lower at midday due to selling in selected heavyweights, led by the financial services, plantation and utilities counters. At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.95 points or 0.31 per cent to 1,583.76, from Wednesday’s close of 1,588.71. The benchmark index opened 0.72 of-a-point easier at 1,587.99.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, on the broader market, gainers led decliners 448 to 421, with 429 counters unchanged, 1,090 untraded, and 97 suspended. Turnover stood at 1.71 billion shares worth RM1.11 billion. While sentiments may be subdued, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the oversold conditions, coupled with Nvidia’s earnings beat, to support a rebound in the technology sector locally, with Itmax looking favourable due to its recent earnings.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd further notes that Sunway’s record high revenue in the financial year 2024 could spur bargain-hunting in the property and construction sector, as well as among companies linked to the data centre supply chain and the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone action plan. For conservative traders, the firm believes banking and real estate investment trusts will remain in focus, given their steady earnings growth and dividend yield appeal.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed four sen to RM10.66, CIMB slipped five sen to RM8.23, Public Bank dropped six sen to RM4.49, Tenaga Nasional eased two sen to RM13.56, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.30. As for the actives, Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, My E.G. Services increased 1.5 sen to 96.5 sen and Ingenieur Gudang was flat at four sen, while Kinergy Advancement edged down half-a-sen to 33 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 4.17 points to 11,888.44, the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 25.75 points to 11,558.33, the FBM 70 Index soared 134.35 points to 17,137.69 and the FBM ACE Index gained 14.72 points to 4,813.61, while the FBMT 100 Index eased 1.87 points to 11,673.18. By sector, the Financial Services Index shed 97.28 points to 19,380.27 and the Plantation Index was 11.11 points easier at 7,530.95, while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 2.06 points to 161.45 and the Energy Index edged up 1.65 points to 764.27.