KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower in tandem with the weaker sentiment in regional peers following the downbeat performance on Wall Street overnight.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI eased 0.18 of-a-point to 1,444.49 from 1,444.67 at Thursday's close.
The key index, which opened 0.46 of-a-point weaker at 1,444.21, moved between 1,438.51 and 1,444.81 throughout the session.
On the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 550 to 286, while 369 counters were unchanged, 1,169 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.94 billion units worth RM1.36 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the key index is expected to hover at the 1,440-1,450 range today.
"It is interesting to note that buying in plantation counters remains strong as the recent spike in the crude palm oil price should boost earnings in the the thiurd quarter of 2023, thus investors are anticipating better performance from the planters this year," he added.
Of the heavyweight stocks, CIMB and IHH Healthcare gained three sen each to RM5.61 and RM5.98, respectively, Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM6.87, Public Bank was flat at RM4.08, Maybank eased one sen to RM9, and TNB shed four sen to RM9.96.
Among the actives, Boustead Plantations
jumped 13 sen to RM1.50, Eco World International increased six sen to 70 sen, YTL Power advanced nine sen to RM1.84, Ucrest was flat at 19.5 sen, RGB International declined 2.5 sen to 35 sen, and Parkson shed 1.5 sen to 32 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 8.50 points to 10,660.08, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 6.97 points to 10,343.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 17.53 points to 10,894.22, the FBM 70 Index eased 33.43 points to 14,123.30, and the FBM ACE Index dipped 46.06 points to 5,268.72.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.05 of-a-point to 168.79, the Plantation Index decreased 38.08 points to 6,960.24, the Financial Services Index perked up 1.15 points to 16,188.09, and the Energy Index added 0.31 of-a-point to 824.03. - Bernama
