At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,594.86 points, 16.18 points lower than the Jan 7 close of 1,611.04.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 743 to 138, while 281 counters remained unchanged, 775 were not traded and 13 others suspended.
The FBM KLCI opened 6.9 points lower before falling 21.39 points after two minutes of trading.
An analyst said the local bourse will remain volatile throughout the day as investors await US President Donald Trump’s address for the country on the latest development in the Middle East later today.
“If the US retaliates in any way, the local bourse will continue to face pressure despite a prediction of a rise in oil price. However, the index will not fall more than 30 points as foreign equity holding is only about 35% while the rest is controlled by government institutions.
“In addition, top composite index weighted stocks are also linked to the government,” she said.
On the technical front, she said, for the remaining of the trading day, the index is expected to trade between 1,588 and 1,605.
The top 30 counters remained negative with Axiata shedding 13 sen to RM4.23, CIMB Group declining nine sen to RM5.20, MISC losing 14 sen to RM8.29 and PPB dropping 42 sen to RM18.86.
As for top losers, Scientex, UWC, LPI and Hong Leong Bank erased 14 sen each to RM9.46, RM3.04, RM15.16 and RM17.52 respectively.
Meanwhile, on actives, Alam Maritim and its warrant both increased one sen and half a sen respectively to 19 sen and seven sen while energy counters, Sapura Energy and Velesto were up one sen and 1.5 sen to 29 sen and 40 sen respectively.
On the overall index, the FBM Emas Index was down 112.28 points to 11,345.66 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 111.82 points lower at 11,976.22.
The FBMT 100 Index weakened by 104.88 points to 11,147.44, the FBM 70 slid 100.04 points to 14,208.72 while the FBM Ace erased 100.63 points to 5,353.81.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 1.70 points to 154.70, the Financial Services Index lost 159.19 points to 15,554.22 and the Plantation Index fell 96.53 points to 7,661.00. – Jan 8, 2020, Bernama
