Weak sentiment drags KL shares lower in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning, dragged down by weak sentiment on global markets.

At 9.18am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.13 points lower at 1,664.59 against Tuesday's close of 1,668.72.

The index had opened 3.24 points weaker at 1,665.48.

A dealer said the overnight losses on Wall Street following the release of a batch of disappointing corporate earnings reports, coupled with sluggish oil prices, hurt interest on global bourses.

On Bursa Malaysia this morning, there were 187 losers and 94 gainers, while 198 counters were unchanged, 1,178 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 184.68 million shares worth RM54.93 million.

Selling was mostly spotted in index-linked counters as well as oil and gas-related stocks.

Petronas Chemicals lost nine sen to RM6.69, Petronas Gas eased four sen to RM21.74, and SapuraKencana slipped three sen to RM1.65.

Of the heavyweights, TNB eased two sen to RM14.36 as both Maybank and Public Bank shed four sen each to RM7.66 and RM19.74 respectively.

IHH Healthcare, however, was flat at RM6.55.

Of the active counters, Hibiscus Petroleum improved 1.5 sen to 25.5 sen, while both Borneo Oil and Compugates inched up half-a-sen each to 17.5 and four sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index lost 28.46 points to 11,760.23 as the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 24.71 points to 12,427.84 and the FBM Ace declined 19.74 points to 5,168.49.

The FBMT 100 Index trimmed 28.78 points to 11,459.75 and the FBM 70 fell 35.84 points to 13,772.65.

The Finance Index lost 46.36 points for 14,247.96 and the Plantation Index declined 17.79 points to 7,911.37. But, the Industrial Index gained 3.14 points for 3,139.19.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were untraded for the second trading day on a lack of buying interest, dealers said.

October 2016, November 2016, December 2016 and January 2017 were quoted at RM169.2, RM169.6, RM169.95 and RM170.1 a gramme respectively.

With volume at nil, open interest amounted to 258 contracts.

At 9.30am, physical gold rose 27 sen to RM163.38 a gramme from RM163.11 a gramme yesterday. — Bernama