KLCI remains negative at midday as investors hold back

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained in the negative territory at midday amid a broad-based sell-off after the steep decline on Wall Street overnight.

At 12.30pm, FBM KLCI shed 22.11 points, or 1.50% to 1,450.66. It opened 11.84 points easier at 1,460.93 this morning.

Sellers led buyers by 771 to 150 while 278 counters traded unchanged. Volume stood at 1.56 billion shares, valued at RM851.18mil.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.42%, to end at 29,927.07, the S&P 500 lost 3.25% to end at 3,666.77 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 4.08% to end at 10,646.10.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd expects the local market to face some headwinds and anticipate the benchmark index to trend range bound within 1,460-1,470 for today due to greater market volatility across the region and heavy selldown on Wall Street overnight.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said the prevalent headwinds will keep the benchmark to lock in a tug-a-war within its envisaged support at 1,429-1,450 and resistances near 1,475-1,500 range until a decisive breakout or breakdown evolves.

“A major breakout above 1,500 may lift the index to retest 1,530 -1,550 zones. On the flip side, failure to hold up above this support area will trigger a steeper selloff towards 1,390-1,400 territory,” it said.

On Bursa Malaysia, Nestle tumbled RM6 to RM134, Petronas Dagangan fell 90 sen to RM20.24, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 86 sen to RM23.18 and Malaysian Pacific Industries lost 46 sen to RM29.24.

Panasonic Manufacturing rose 14 sen to RM27.16, Carlsberg added six sen to RM22.40, Gets Global climbed six sen to 97 sen and Power Root gained six sen to RM1.68.