Kuala Lumpur:Bursa Malaysia continued to experience a downturn at mid-morning, largely driven by selling pressures in leading sectors such as healthcare, industrial products, and utilities.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, at 11 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped by 11.73 points to 1,639.44, compared to the previous day's close of 1,651.17, after opening slightly lower at 1,649.87.
In the healthcare sector, IHH Healthcare saw a decrease of 13 sen to RM7.70. Within industrial products, Petronas Chemicals fell 11 sen to RM4.07, Press Metal Aluminium went down nine sen to RM7.36, and Sunway dipped two sen to RM4.40. Utilities counters also took a hit, with YTL Power dropping six sen to RM5.81, YTL Corporation declining by one sen to RM2.27, and Tenaga Nasional decreasing by two sen to RM12.94.
The overall market saw 484 decliners surpassing 273 gainers, with 460 counters unchanged. Additionally, 1,556 counters remained untraded, and 12 were suspended. The market turnover was recorded at 1.18 billion shares valued at RM769.76 million.
Hong Leong Investment Bank noted that the ongoing US-Iran tensions and the Federal Reserve's hawkish stance could prolong the benchmark index's risk-off consolidation, influenced by high oil prices, bond yields, and continued foreign outflows.
Among major stocks, Maybank and CIMB each dropped by two sen to RM9.97 and RM7.77, respectively, while Public Bank declined three sen to RM4.67. In active trades, Zetrix AI increased by half a sen to 16.5 sen, V.S Industry rose one sen to 29 sen, Jaks Resources fell half a sen to 20 sen, ACE Market newcomer GB Bond decreased by 2.5 sen to 22.5 sen, and Dagang Nexchange rose two sen to 50.5 sen.
Top gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which increased by 62 sen to RM41.02, Malayan Cement rising by 12 sen to RM5.57, and both MI Technovation and Hengyuan Refining gaining 10 sen to RM5.30 and RM3.66, respectively. Vitrox saw an increase of eight sen to RM9.99.
Conversely, Kuala Lumpur Kepong led the decliners, falling 74 sen to RM21.46, followed by Allianz Malaysia, which shed 68 sen to RM20.94. Nestle fell 40 sen to RM89.60, United Plantations dropped 30 sen to RM31.26, and Hong Leong Bank lost 28 sen to RM22.86.
On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index decreased by 71.17 points to 17,503.50, the FBM Emas Index fell 72.18 points to 12,219.83, and the FBM Top 100 Index declined by 76.32 points to 12,008.12. The FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened by 71.61 points to 12,104.73, and the FBM ACE Index decreased by 22.64 points to 5,511.64.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index dropped by 1.24 points to 179.17, the Energy Index eased by 5.43 points to 840.27, the Financial Services Index fell 87.09 points to 19,129.40, and the Plantation Index retreated by 104.26 points to 9,092.41.