Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia remained under pressure in the mid-afternoon session, driven by substantial selling activities in selected heavyweight stocks, with Hong Leong Bank (HLB) leading the decline. At 3.03 pm, HLB's share price experienced a significant drop, falling 90 sen or 4.05 percent, settling at RM21.32 per share, with a total of 689,600 shares traded.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) also saw a decrease, dropping 4.87 points to 1,613.91 compared to the previous day's close of 1,618.78. The index had initially opened slightly higher by 0.76 of a point at 1,619.54. The number of declining stocks surpassed those gaining, with 544 decliners against 501 gainers, while 517 stocks remained unchanged. The market saw 1,247 untraded stocks and 40 suspended ones, with a turnover of 3.26 billion units valued at RM1.68 billion.
In the heavyweight sector, Maybank showed a marginal increase of one sen to RM9.97. Public Bank and CIMB maintained their previous values at RM4.30 and RM7.47, respectively. TNB saw a gain of eight sen to RM13.12, while IHH experienced a decrease of three sen to RM8.05.
On the list of most actively traded stocks, Velesto fell one sen to 25.5 sen, while Polymer Link remained stable at 25 sen. Tanco saw an increase of two sen to RM1.06, and XOX Technology rose by one sen to 6.5 sen.
Top gainers for the day included MPI, which increased by RM1.34 to RM33, BLD Plantation, which climbed 50 sen to RM15, United Plantation, which rose 22 sen to RM28.58, and KL Kepong, which advanced 20 sen to RM20.92. Conversely, among the leading losers, Nestle fell RM1 to RM111, Petronas Dagangan decreased by 44 sen to RM20.56, Malayan Cement dropped 34 sen to RM6.31, and Kelington declined by 24 sen to RM5.31.
In terms of index performance, the FBM Emas Index slipped 23.97 points to 11,995.54, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased by 23.91 points to 11,971.91. The FBMT 100 Index saw a reduction of 28.98 points to 11,765.04. The FBM ACE Index decreased by 9.65 points to 4,893.23, and the FBM Mid 70 Index went down by 13.42 points to 16,927.78.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index experienced a drop of 67.09 points to 18,469.83. However, the Plantation Index gained 7.02 points to 8,224.59, and the Energy Index increased by 2.0 points to 759.33. The Industrial Products and Services Index saw a minor decrease of 0.73 of a point to 162.92.