KUALA LUMPUR - Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-morning, in line with the weaker sentiment in regional bourses as stronger-than-expected US inflation data raised concerns that interest rates would need to remain elevated for a longer period.
At 11.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.83 points to 1,440.99 from Thursday’s close of 1,443.82, after opening 0.45 of-a-point lower at 1,443.37.
On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 364 to 296, while 403 counters were unchanged, 1,292 untraded and 25 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.19 billion units worth RM570.87 million.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and CIMB lost three sen each to RM4.15 and RM5.63 respectively, Petronas Chemicals slid five sen to RM7.22, while Maybank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM8.99 and RM10.00 respectively.
Of the actives, UEM Sunrise rose 3.5 sen to 88 sen, Widad, Tanco and Ekovest inched up half-a-sen each to 55 sen, 57 sen and 55.5 sen respectively, while SSF Home slipped by 1.5 sen to 25 sen.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 declined 10.26 points to 10,347.27, the FBM Emas Index slid 10.13 points to 10,686.18, the FBM Emas Shariah shed 0.98 of-a-point to 10,919.79, and the FBM ACE was 22.36 points lower at 5,155.41, while the FBM 70 put on 29.66 points to 14,256.54.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.34 of-a-point to 173.70, the Financial Services Index dipped 31.72 points to 16,246.80, while the Energy Index went up 1.78 points to 877.23 and the Plantation Index perked up 0.64 of-a-point to 6,847.41. - BERNAMA