At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 2.81 points to 1,532.17 from Thursday’s close of 1,534.98.
After opening 5.97 points weaker at 1,529.01 this morning, the local index moved between 1,527.57 and 1,533.91 during the morning session.
On the broader market, losers trumped gainers 389 to 319, with 372 counters unchanged, 912 not traded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.5 billion shares worth RM921.65 mil.
Rakuten Trade Research said equities are expected to remain in the doldrums so long as sentiments are affected by the virus outbreak.
“Therefore, we reckon regional markets will stay mixed today on the back of a weakening Wall Street. Exodus of funds are already underway to safer havens as gold prices have gone beyond the US$1,600/oz to a multi-year high since 2013,” it said in a note today.
Locally, the research house expected the index to remain within a tight range of between 1,530/40.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM8.41, Petronas Chemicals slipped eight sen to RM6.47, Tenaga was flat at RM12.78 but Public Bank rose two sen to RM18.14.
Of the actives, Eduspec and XOX inched up 0.5 sen each to three sen and 5.5 sen respectively, I-Stone added 1.5 sen to 24 sen while Mtouche was one sen weaker at 18 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 17.46 points to 10,971.27, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 26.72 points to 11,680.10 while the FBMT 100 Index gave up 18.60 points to 10,756.34.
The FBM 70 slid 19.37 points to 13,903.53 but the FBM ACE appreciated 91.49 points to 5,742.19.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.1 points to 145.72, the Financial Services Index decreased 15.45 points to 14,684.67 while the Plantation Index slipped 3.89 points to 7,146.43. – Feb 21, 2020
