Bursa Malaysia remains lower at midday

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at midday, ahead of the tabling of Budget 2022 later today.

At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 4.15 points to 1,562.71 from Thursday's close of 1,566.86.

The benchmark index, which opened 2.01 points higher at 1,568.87, moved between 1,562.29 and 1,570.65 throughout the morning trading session.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 438 to 390, while 457 counters were unchanged, 995 untraded, and 46 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.80 billion units worth RM1.05 billion.

Among the heavyweights, TNB gained one sen to RM9.66, Press Metal advanced seven sen to RM5.53, Maybank was flat at RM8.11, Public Bank, IHH Healthcare and CIMB eased two sen each to RM4.18, RM6.50 and RM5.23, respectively, while Hong Leong declined six sen to RM18.84.

Of the actives, MMAG increased one sen to 10.5 sen, Sarawak Consolidated edged up half-a-sen to 23.5 sen and KPower soared 11 sen to 58 sen, while Kanger was flat at 4.5 sen, Benalec inched down half-a-sen to 15 sen and NWP shed one sen to 25 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index contracted 15.51 points to 11,561.0, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 18.87 points to 11,191.94, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 6.03 points to 12,583.45.

The FBM 70 was 16.45 points higher at 15,306.28, and the FBM ACE appreciated 35.05 points to 7,070.48.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.51 of-a-point to 206.15, the Plantation Index gave up 75.73 points to 6,787.32, while the Financial Services Index narrowed 58.23 points to 15,628.50 . - Bernama