Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia remained on a downward trend at midday, influenced by profit-taking activities in selected blue-chip counters, primarily in the healthcare sector. At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 4.16 points to 1,747.14, compared to Monday's closing figure of 1,751.30.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the index opened stronger by 4.16 points at 1,755.46 and fluctuated within a range of 1,745.61 to 1,761.57 during the morning trading session. The market breadth was slightly negative with 430 decliners surpassing 425 gainers, while 479 counters remained unchanged, 1,317 were untraded, and 11 were suspended. The turnover stood at 1.38 billion units valued at RM1.12 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, informed that market participants are realizing their profits following the FBM KLCI's positive performance the previous day. The benchmark index had started the week positively, supported by the commencement of the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah cash distribution program and the positive ripple effect of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's victory on Asian markets.
In terms of heavyweight performance, IHH Healthcare recorded a decline of 13 sen to RM8.81, 99 Speedmart Retail Holdings fell by 12 sen to RM4.03, Tenaga Nasional decreased by 16 sen to RM13.98, and Maybank reduced by four sen to RM12.02, while Public Bank saw an increase of three sen to RM5.11.
On the most actively traded list, Zetrix AI fell by one sen to 79.5 sen, while MMAG Holdings, Pharmaniaga, and Bina Puri remained unchanged at 4.5 sen, 30 sen, and 29.5 sen, respectively, with Capital A increasing by one sen to 59 sen.
Leading gainers included Fraser and Neave Holdings, which rose by 28 sen to RM33.28, Malaysian Pacific Industries which increased by RM1.10 to RM32.68, Chin Teck Plantations which jumped by 58 sen to RM11, Hong Leong Financial Group which went up by 28 sen to RM22.68, and Axiata Group which expanded by 18 sen to RM2.37.
Among the top decliners, Nestle dropped by 30 sen to RM111.30, Petronas Dagangan decreased by 48 sen to RM20.24, Hong Leong Bank shed 16 sen to RM24.84, Negri Sembilan Oil Palms fell by 15 sen to RM5.75, and Dutch Lady Milk Industries eased by 14 sen to RM33.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index lost 21.56 points to 12,594.66, the FBM Emas Index dropped by 17.99 points to 12,766.56, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased by 16.45 points to 12,218.27. In contrast, the FBM Mid 70 Index rose by 8.28 points to 17,498.67, and the FBM ACE Index gained 9.32 points to 4,738.64.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased by 17.41 points to 21,707.54, and the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased by 1.08 points to 174.93. Meanwhile, the Energy Index gained 1.24 points to 740.85, and the Plantation Index advanced 22 points to 8,380.52.