Malaysian Stock Market Ends Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Bernama) – The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) ended the half-day trading on a weaker note ahead of a long weekend for Hari Raya Aidilfitri and also in line with regional markets after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter-percentage point. At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) pared down losses by 1.79 point or 0.10 per cent to 1,761.78, after opening 12.66 points weaker at 1,750.91 against Wednesday's close of 1,763.57. The index moved between 1,745.45 and 1,762.22 throughout the morning session. On the broader market, losers led gainers by 372 to 361, with 372 counters unchanged, 806 untraded and 23 others suspended. Volume was lower at 1.62 billion units worth RM302.19 million versus 2.12 billion units worth RM2.02 billion on Wednesday. Regionally, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.37 per cent to 3,380.07, Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.52 per cent to 22,847.72 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.62 per cent to 30,533.64. Back home, among the actively traded stocks, Sapura Energy and Sanichi Technology edged up half-a-sen to 65 sen and 11 sen respectively, MYEG rose two sen to 96.5 sen while TDM and YTL Power International both gained 1.5 sen to 27 sen and 97.5 sen. Of the heavyweights, TNB jumped 10 sen to RM14.50, Maxis added one sen to RM5.78 while Maybank, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM9.60, RM8.34 and RM6.10. Public Bank declined four sen to RM24.04 and CIMB trimmed 11 sen to RM5.97. -- BERNAMA