Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday (Wednesday) as the market opted for caution ahead of the overnight policy rate (OPR) announcement on Thursday while the market awaited new developments in China and the US.
At exactly 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.42 points to 1,532.56 from 1,536.98 yesterday.
The benchmark index opened 4.53 points lower at 1,532.45 and is now moving between 1,527.92 to 1,535.20 during the morning trading session.
Market sentiment was broadly negative with losers outnumbering gainers by 521 to 335. Meanwhile, 416 counters were unchanged, 991 were untraded and 13 others were suspended.
The total turnover was 2.23 billion units worth RM1.27 billion.
Today, China's top officials will reportedly hold a press conference following the National People's Congress held yesterday that may provide clear details of the government's efforts to improve their country's economy.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng believes that the market situation remains cautious following the decline on Wall Street overnight and that the FBM KLCI needs a quick rebound to restore the trend.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd lost three sen to RM6.50, Tenaga Nasional Bhd lost two sen to RM11.14, Malayan Banking Bhd added one sen to RM9.64, Public Bank Bhd rose one sen to RM4.33. and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose seven sen to RM6.93.
As for active stocks, Harvest Miracle Capital Bhd fell 1.5 sen to 12 sen, Velesto Energy Bhd fell one sen to 28 sen, while Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd was unchanged at 1.5 sen, Widad Group Bhd was unchanged at 9.5 sen and Minetech Resources Bhd rose by half. cents to 15 cents.
On the index board, the FBM Gold Index fell 28.30 points to 11,368.71, the FBMT 100 Index fell 28.83 points to 11,036.46, the FBM 70 Index fell 27.62 points to 15,335.79, the FBM 25.75 and FBM 54 Index. The Shariah Index fell 13.81 points to 11,371.28.
In terms of sectors, the Financial Services Index fell 32.80 points to 17,257.33, the Energy Index fell 9.58 points to 897.69, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.18 points to 174.29, and the Plantation Index rose 49.06 points to 35.227
