Losses in heavyweights weigh on KL shares

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower prompted by losses in heavyweights, dealers said. At 9.23am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.11 points lower at 1,865.24 after opening 3.06 points easier at 1,864.29.
The banking sector heavyweights, in particular, were down in early session with Maybank erasing 1.0 sen to RM9.99, Hong Leong Bank and CIMB eased 2.0 sen each to RM14 and RM7.51, respectively, and AMMB fell 7.0 sen to RM7.16 while Public Bank rose 2.0 sen to RM20.30.
Other heavyweights, TNB trimmed 4.0 sen to RM11.90 but Axiata added 2.0 sen to RM6.65. Among actives, 1Utopia and Hubline were flat at 7.5 sen and 4.0 sen, respectively, and Frontken lost half-a-sen to 12.5 sen.
Maybank Investment Bank Research said most major Asian stocks outside Japan fell as a gauge of Chinese shares in Hong Kong slid to a month low, after a private manufacturing report signaled persisting weakness in the mainland's economy.
"US markets also ended marginally lower last night in quiet trading as factory output slumped in US and China," it said in a note. Turnover stood at 271.35 million shares worth RM121.49 million.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 182 to 165, while 222 counters were unchanged, 1,059 untraded and 14 others were suspended.
On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index fell 1.47 points to 8,972.91, the Finance Index trimmed 26.04 points to 17,113.8 and the Industrial Index slid 5.41 points to 3,178.2.
The FBM Emas Index fell 10.7 points to 12,957.99, the FBMT100 Index was 13.02 points lower at 12,588.48, the FBM 70 depreciated 10.1 points to 14,225.28 and the FBM Ace erased 5.45 points to 6,920.77.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM130.38 per gramme, down 13 sen from RM130.51 at 5pm yesterday. – Bernama