Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session slightly lower on Sept 9 as profit-taking in selected heavyweights, particularly banking stocks, weighed on the benchmark index.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.23 points, or 0.07%, to 1,713.17 from its close of 1,714.40 on Sept 8. The benchmark traded between a low of 1,711.17 and a high of 1,718.52 during the morning session.
However, the broader indices were mostly higher with the FBM 70 gaining 52.93 points to 17,879.84, after trading between 17,842.58 and 17,921.69, the F4GBM adding 0.26 point to 1,029.10, with an intraday high of 1,031.64 and low of 1,028.40 and the FBM Emas advancing 5.49 points to 12,676.52, after moving between 12,669.36 and 12,706.22. The FBM Shariah also rose 38.22 points to 12,489.05, having touched a high of 12,504.62 and a low of 12,466.63.
The broader market was also firmer, with 486 gainers outpacing 464 losers. Another 525 counters were unchanged, while 1,334 were untraded and 15 suspended.
Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd topped the gainers list, jumping RM1.12 to RM40.94, with 116,200 shares changing hands. Petronas Dagangan Bhd gained 38 sen to RM20.30 on 203,800 shares, while UMS Integration Ltd advanced 22 sen to RM8.36 with 58,700 shares traded. Meanwhile, Malayan Cement Bhd also climbed 21 sen to RM5.73 on volume of about 1.47 million shares, while UWC Bhd also added 21 sen to RM6.73, recording about 2.5 million shares in turnover.
On the downside, Nestle (M) Bhd was the biggest loser, falling 86 sen to RM93.30, with 15,800 shares traded. Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd declined 32 sen to RM24.22 on 28,700 shares. Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Hong Leong Industries Bhd each lost 24 sen, closing at RM18.74 and RM16.82 respectively. Trading volume stood at 79,500 shares for Hong Leong Financial Group and 77,600 shares for Hong Leong Industries.
Rounding out the top losers, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd slipped 20 sen to RM31.30, with 300 shares traded.
On the other hand, Zetrix AI Bhd was by far the most actively traded counter, with about 481.94 million shares changing hands as the stock fell 2.5 sen to 28 sen, after trading between 27 sen and 31.5 sen.
Zen Tech International Bhd was unchanged at 0.5 sen, with about 36.8 million shares traded. NexG Bhd gained 2.5 sen to 29.5 sen on turnover of about 35.81 million shares, after moving between 27 sen and 30.5 sen.
New ACE Market debutant GTA Holdings Bhd fell 3.5 sen to 30 sen, recording approximately 32.75 million shares in volume. It traded between 29 sen and 33.5 sen during the session.
Rounding out the five most active stocks, JAKS Resources Bhd was unchanged at 12 sen, with about 30.3 million shares traded after ranging between 11.5 sen and 13 sen.
Turnover for the midday stood at 2.16 billion units worth RM1.57 billion.
