By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad & Zarul Effendi Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia was marginally lower at midday as buying interest interspersed with selling in selected heavyweights in line with the weaker sentiment on regional bourses. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased slightly by 0.06 of-a-point to 1,402.42 from 1,402.48 at yesterday’s close.

The barometer index opened 0.45 of-a-point firmer at 1,402.93 this morning.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 433 to 294, while 363 counters were unchanged, 1,186 untraded and 26 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.34 billion units worth RM1.20 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI continued its downtrend today and is currently hovering just above the 1,400-key level, as the highly anticipated bargain hunting did not occur as investors remained sidelined, spooked by the regional weakness.

“It was another interesting day on Wall Street as traders were split between the US debt ceiling negotiations which is still in progress and corporate earnings.

“Reflecting the approaching US default deadline, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35 points while the Nasdaq Composite surged 214 points, buoyed by solid earnings from Nvidia that spurred other semiconductor stocks higher as well,” he told Bernama. 

Nonetheless, he said, buying activities are expected to emerge if the index dips to around the 1,390 mark. Thus the local benchmark index is forecast to trend within the 1,400-1,410 range with banking stocks ripe for the picking.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose 2.0 sen each to RM8.58 and RM3.91, Tenaga Nasional added 12.0 sen to RM9.70, CIMB Group slid 4.0 sen to RM4.92, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.97.

As for the active counters, YTL Corp increased 4.0 sen to 82.0 sen, SMRT Holdings perked up 6.0 sen to 71.5 sen, Widad Group edged up half-a-sen to 43.5 sen, while Revenue Group eased half-a-sen to 26.0 sen and Malaysia Airports lost 20.0 sen to RM7.06. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 3.08 points to 10,287.49, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 4.75 points to 9,994.71, the FBM Emas Shariah Index ticked up 4.58 points to 10,648.68, the FBM 70 Index rose 27.93 points to 13,452.95, while the FBM ACE Index was 18.01 points lower at 4,926.18.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.03 of-a-point to 164.11, the Plantation Index slipped 69.41 points to 6,736.34, the Energy Index fell by 8.91 points to 809.85, and the Financial Services Index gained 2.34 points to 15,320.77.

-- BERNAMA