Bursa Malaysia traded lower at midday on June 23 as continued profit-taking in industrial products, property, healthcare and telecommunications counters weighed on market sentiment.
At 12:30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.40 points, or 0.31%, to 1,695.44 from its close of 1,700.84 on June 22, after moving between 1,692.05 and 1,703.10 during the morning session.
Market breadth weakness was reflected across key indices, with the FBM 70 dropping 0.96% to 17,863.45, while the FBM Emas and FBM Shariah indices declined 0.5% and 0.53%, respectively.
The broader market also remained firmly negative, with losers outpacing gainers 685 to 265, while 477 counters were unchanged. A total of 1,299 stocks were untraded and 13 suspended.
On the losers’ board, Malaysian Pacific Industries led declines, shedding RM1.84 to RM47, followed by UMS Integration, down 56 sen to RM8.46. Nestle Malaysia lost 30 sen to RM95, while SAM Engineering and Vitrox Corporation each fell 29 sen to RM4.90 and RM7.17, respectively.
In contrast, Ajinomoto Malaysia surged RM3.82 to RM19.02 to top the gainers’ list. United Plantations rose 84 sen to RM32.80, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 78 sen to RM21.70, Batu Kawan added 70 sen to RM21.50, while Petronas Gas advanced 12 sen to RM17.46.
Among heavyweight stocks, Petronas Chemicals fell 20 sen to RM4.07, IOI Properties slipped 10 sen to RM4.04, Maxis lost seven sen to RM3.31, Sunway Healthcare eased three sen to RM1.81, and Telekom Malaysia declined 11 sen to RM7.41.
Trading activity remained robust, with 1.71 billion shares changing hands valued at RM1.27 billion. HSS Holdings was the most actively traded stock with 84.33 million shares transacted, followed by Zetrix AI, SKP Resources, Dagang NeXchange and Top Glove.
