KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session lower due to mild profit-taking on selected heavyweights.

At the lunch break on Wednesday (April 27), the benchmark FBM KLCI was 7.04 points weaker at 1,589.64 from Tuesday’s close at 1,596.68.

The index opened 5.03 points weaker at 1,591.65 and moved between 1,585.17 and 1,593.34 throughout the morning session.

On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 659 to 240, while 346 counters were unchanged, 1,046 untraded and 43 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 1.17 billion units worth RM826.49 million.

An analyst said investors may position themselves within the plantation as well as oil and gas sectors while waiting for the earnings season in view of elevated commodity prices.

They may also focus on consumer and banking-related stocks in view of the reopening of travel borders, he added, noting that technology stocks may be caught in a rout following the steep selldown on the Nasdaq overnight.

Among Bursa heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) gained four sen to RM8.99, Public Bank Bhd was flat at RM4.72, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost 27 sen to RM9.95, IHH Healthcare Bhd slid one sen to RM6.64 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd eased four sen to RM5.15. 

Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) slipped two sen to RM1, Vizione Holdings Bhd, Permaju Industries Bhd and Talam Transform Bhd rose half a sen to 10 sen, nine sen and 2.5 sen respectively, while Widad Group Bhd was flat at 36 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 62.24 points weaker at 11,358.88, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 92.32 points to 11,902.04, FBM 70 dropped 99.20 points to 13,548.91, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 56.18 points to 11,020.94 and FBM ACE lost 71.77 points to 5,546.64.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 3.20 points to 206.93, the Plantation Index went down 103.47 points to 8,684.99 and the Financial Services Index weakened 17.06 points to 16,817.43.