Bursa Malaysia opens easier due to cautious sentiments
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower on Friday amidst cautious market sentiment ahead of the six state elections tomorrow.
At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 4.66 points to 1,454.27 from 1,458.93 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 0.46 of-a-point lower at 1,458.47.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 134 to 118, while 215 counters were unchanged, 1,852 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 174.97 million units worth RM64.21 million.
Voters in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan will be casting their votes tomorrow.
As such, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that sentiments might turn slightly cautious today, and anticipates the index to hover within the 1,455-1,465 range.
Similarly, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd also expects to see cautious trading, while projecting the lower liners to see rangebound trading amidst the ongoing corporate reporting season.
“Going forward, investors will be monitoring the outcome of the state elections as well as the United States producer price index data to be released tonight,” it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM8.96, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare slipped one sen each to RM4.14 and RM5.99, respectively, CIMB lost seven sen to RM5.59 and Tenaga erased eight sen to RM9.65, while Petronas Chemicals and CelcomDigi were flat at RM6.86 and RM4.40, respectively.
Of the actives, Classita inched up half-a-sen to 10 sen, Salutica gained 4.5 sen to 70.5 sen and Bahvest added one sen to 34.5 sen, while Tanco was flat at 54.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 24.6 points lower at 10,676.79, the FBMT 100 Index declined 28.99 points to 10,367.89, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shaved off 22.16 points to 10,901.5, and the FBM 70 Index contracted 21.15 points to 13,965.84.
However, the FBM ACE Index rose 15.32 points to 5,306.04.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 43.62 points to 16,259.22 and the Plantation Index decreased 21.64 points to 7,075.77, while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.04 of-a-point to 167.03 and the Energy Index earned 0.68 points to 828.35.
— BERNAMA
