Bursa Malaysia opens marginally higher but retreats thereafter

KUALA LUMPUR,. Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher today but subsequently retreated due to mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights, at the same time tracking the losses in the Wall Street overnight as investors trade in a cautious mode ahead of key inflation reports later this week.

At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 0.39 points to 1,432.24 from Tuesday’s close of 1,432.63.

The benchmark index opened 0.48 points firmer at 1,433.11.

In the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 169 to 132, while 213 counters were unchanged, 1,728 untraded, and 23 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 213.94 million units worth RM88.75 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Wall Street ended on a low note with the Dow Jones Index losing 57 points and the S&P500 erasing 19 points, while the Nasdaq declined 77 points.

Back home, he noted that the FBM KLCI pared its losses yesterday due to late buying activities.

“As for today, we reckon the local market would face some headwinds following weakened regional sentiment and negative cues from the Wall Street, thus we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the range of 1,425-1,435.

“Meanwhile, crude oil price (CPO) price rose to above RM3,700 per tonne, hence we may see some buying interest in plantation stocks,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were flat at RM8.75 and RM4.02, respectively, Petronas Chemicals and CIMB lost one sen each to RM7.19 and RM5.10, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional was five sen lower at RM9.15.

As for the actives, Jade Marvel rose two sen to 29.5 sen, Velesto added one sen to 24 sen and Salutica gained five sen to 98.5 sen, while both Top Glove and Careplus fell one sen each to RM1.08 and 30.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 6.07 points to 10,473.16, the FBMT 100 Index edged down 5.99 points to 10,171.39 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 9.15 points to 10,792.21.

The FBM ACE Index was 19.69 points lower at 5,034.91 and the FBM 70 index trimmed 21.10 points to 13,542.36.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.34 points to 169.31 and the Financial Services Index weakened 2.07 points to 15,713.50, while the Energy Index increased 6.29 points to 839.26 and the Plantation Index rose 22.66 points to 6,832.86. — Bernama