Bursa Malaysia turned lower at midday on Monday, dampened by selling pressure on selected heavyweights led by the plantation as well as financial services sectors.
Sime Darby Plantation Bhd eased nine sen to RM4.34 a share, Public Bank Bhd at RM4.45 and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) at RM9.50 had slid three sen each. These counters pulled the composite index down by a combined 2.60 points.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI had eased 1.99 points to 1,547.12, from last Friday’s close at 1,549.11.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.18 of a point lower at 1,548.93, moved between 1,546.48 and 1,553.90 in the morning session.
Market breadth was negative, with losers surpassing gainers 546 to 377, while 433 counters were unchanged, 958 untraded, and 29 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 2.13 billion units worth RM1.50 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects traders to continue to chase the utilities sector, as YTL-related stocks are deemed attractive in terms of valuations.
“Meanwhile, we noticed the technology sector’s results were slightly positive last week, and we believe it may turn out stronger from the second quarter onwards.
“Besides, we expect the strong set of results from TM [last Friday] to provide support towards the telecommunications sector,” it said in a note on Monday.
Malacca Securities opined that there might be more earnings surprises from the consumer and oil and gas sectors, on the back of normalising costs and firmer crude oil prices.
The brokerage firm said the market may be monitoring US gross domestic product, core personal consumption expenditures, unemployment claims and manufacturing purchasing managers index data this week.
Among other heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd shed six sen to RM6.89, Petronas Gas Bhd erased 14 sen to RM17.92, and Axiata Group Bhd edged down three sen to RM2.74, while YTL Corp Bhd added seven sen to RM2.54, and CelcomDigi Bhd gained four sen to RM4.33.
Of the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd increased half a sen to 2.5 sen, Ekovest Bhd slid half a sen to 49 sen, and Master Tec Group Bhd went up 9.5 sen to 63 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index contracted 10.57 points to 11,508.79, the FBMT 100 Index went down 11.82 points to 11,160.35, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 16.32 points to 11,545.46, the FBM 70 Index narrowed 6.02 points to 15,586.50, and the FBM ACE Index reduced 44.76 points to 4,841.13.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 28.57 points to 17,316.82, the Plantation Index decreased 33.56 points to 7,214.27, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.55 of a point to 177.30, but the Energy Index was 5.85 points higher at 935.74.
