BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS MORNING SESSION LOWER

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower, trading in cautious mode as market volatility remained elevated and participants continued to cut down on risk.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.73 points to 1,455.40 from yesterday’s close of 1,463.13.

The benchmark index opened 21.47 points lower at 1,441.66 and moved between 1,434.92 and 1,456.92 and 1,473.36 during the morning trading session.

Market breadth was negative with decliners leading gainers 468 to 358. A total of 400 counters were unchanged, 1,139 untraded and nine suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.70 billion shares worth RM1.15 billion.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves noted that investors' attention is now focused on news regarding tariffs and how market participants will adjust their exposure going forward.

"Although President Donald Trump paused new tariffs on all countries except China, the aggressive stance toward Beijing sent traders scrambling for safety.

"This reaction was further exacerbated by a report citing potential additional measures — including the possible delisting of Chinese companies from US exchanges,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank dropped 15 sen to RM9.84, Public Bank rose one sen to RM4.26, Tenaga Nasional slipped 14 sen to RM13.16, CIMB lost 25 sen to RM6.66, and IHH Healthcare went up five sen to RM6.85.

In active trade, MYEG added 5.5 sen to 89 sen, SumiSaujana gained 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Trive Property was flat at 3.5 sen, Bina Puri decreased half-a-sen to 34.5 sen, and Supermax increased half-a-sen to 85.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 36.44 points to 10,805.97, the FBMT 100 Index shed 39.80 points to 10,601.00, but the FBM Emas Shariah Index inched up 23.51 points to 10,592.33.

The FBM 70 Index gained 8.40 points to 15,243.53, and the FBM ACE Index rose 33.16 points to 4,402.89.

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index dropped 237.95 points to 17,526.26, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.39 of-a-point to 139.19, the Energy Index weakened 11.89 points to 648.05, and the Plantation Index advanced 9.63 points to 7,055.52.

-- BERNAMA