Share prices lower in sync with US markets

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were lower in early trade today, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, dealers said. At 9.28am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,796.88, down 6.29 points, after opening 8.41 points lower at 1,794.76.
Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers by 241 to 118 while 204 counters were unchanged, 1,188 untraded and 47 others suspended. Turnover stood at 286.69 million shares worth RM149.54 million.
The US markets fell last night on a slew of weak earnings figures, especially Microsoft and Caterpillar, as well as a poorer set of December durable goods figures, analyst said.
The Dow Jones dropped 291.49 points to close at 17,387.21 The FBM Emas Index declined 37.23 points to 12,361.21 and the FBMT100 Index lost 36.88 points to 12,064.14.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 37.23 points to 12,361.21. The FBM 70 declined 20.5 points to 13,392.73. The FBM Ace rose 18.08 points to 6,438.72.
On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index went down 5.96 points to 3,3269.83 and the Finance Index declined 84.55 points to 15,555.76. The Plantation Index rose 10.08 points to 8,005.28.
Among actives, Asia Bioenergy rose 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, Benalec added three sen to 81 sen and Sumatec gained half a sen to 39 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional lost two sen to RM14.98 and Maybank declined six sen to RM8.86. Public Bank rose six sen to RM18.18.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM145.05 per gramme, up RM1.54 from RM143.51 at 5pm yesterday. – Bernama