KUALA LUMPUR (June 17): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower today, dragged down by profit-taking in selected transportation and logistics as well as industrial products and services counters, dealers said.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) went down 7.31 points to 1,571.01 from Wednesday’s close of 1,578.32.
The benchmark index opened 0.43 of-a-point better at 1,578.75 and moved between 1,568.71 and 1,578.75 throughout the session.
Market breadth was also negative with losers outpacing gainers 573 to 266, while 442 counters were unchanged, 884 untraded, and 14 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.28 billion units worth RM1.36 billion.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian shares were on the back foot Thursday after a hawkish US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision which saw the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) dot plots lean tighter after projecting a 50 basis points hike for 2023.
“The hawkish implications of the dot plot saw global equity and debt markets selling off while the US dollar index rose to its highest level in over a month. For the session ahead, price action will most likely be reflected in the context of yesterday’s heavy sell-off,” he said in a note today.
According to Alves, Fed Chair Jerome Powell was keen to emphasise that the dot plots did not reflect a consensus committee decision.
On the global pandemic front, he said Japan is set to lift the State of Emergency on June 20 for Tokyo and eight other areas.
“Meanwhile, commodity traders will be paying close attention to price levels for spot and futures markets as the China National Reserve Administration said the republic will release national reserves of copper, aluminium, and zinc in the near term to non-ferrous producers through public bidding. China also ordered state firms to restrict overseas commodities exposure,” he added.
On the local bourse, heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd was flat at RM8.17, IHH Healthcare Bhd rose one sen to RM5.68, while Public Bank Bhd slipped two sen to RM4.19, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd went down five sen to RM8.06 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd fell four sen to RM9.98.
Of the actives, MMAG Holdings Bhd and KNM Group Bhd were both flat at 19 sen and 20 sen, respectively, Censof Holdings Bhd advanced five sen to 52 sen, while QES Group Bhd earned half-a-sen to 85.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 44 points to 11,478.65, the FBMT 100 Index shed 43.85 points to 11,166.52, and the FBM ACE went down 32.35 points to 7,602.94.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 49.98 points to 12,618.32 while the FBM 70 slipped 27.3 points to 14,941.19.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 40.75 points to 15,267.44, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.99 of-a-point to 191.67, and the Plantation Index slid 29.59 points to 6,503.83.
