KL shares easier at opening

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened easier on Monday awaiting investors' entry into the market, lifting the local bourse.

At 9.08am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.14 points lower at 1,669.85, against last Friday's close of 1,670.99, after opening 1.47 points weaker at 1,669.52 this morning.

Gainers outpaced losers 125 to 110 while 188 counters were unchanged, 1,690 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 91.16 million shares worth RM47.28 million.

A dealer said the local bourse will likely see cautious trading pending a boost from foreign investors who are focusing their attention on the US central bank ahead of the first US presidential debate.

"Investors are waiting for the US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which will take place early on Tuesday in Asian time zones," the dealer said.

However, he said, the market will likely get some support from domestic players.

Among the top losers for the early session, KL-Kepong fell 24 sen to RM23.80, PPB went down 18 sen to RM16.10, British American Tobacco eased 10 sen to RM49.40 while UMW was eight sen lower at RM5.73.
For the top gainers, FCW rose 20 sen to RM1.19, Malaysia Steel Works added 13.5 sen to RM1.03, SWS Capital improved 12 sen to RM1.38 and Lay Hong gained nine sen to RM9.95.

Of the heavyweights, TNB fell four sen to RM14.36, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM7.67 and RM6.70, respectively, while IHH rose one sen to RM6.39.

Among actives, Borneo Oil shed half-a-sen to 19 sen, Lion Industries added 1.5 sen to 48.5 sen and LB Aluminium was 1.5 sen better at 70.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index lost 9.22 points to 11,801.00, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 9.61 points to 11,502.18 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 16.62 points lower at 12,467.10.

The FBM 70 depreciated 18.07 points to 13,845.97, the Plantation Index dropped 17.09 points to 7,941.25 but the FBM Ace was 9.45 points better at 5,261.31.

The Finance Index added 11.50 points to 14,260.92 and the Industrial Index was 6.87 points weaker at 3,137.31.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM171.86 per gramme, up 70 sen from RM171.16 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama