Bursa Malaysia opens lower as investor sentiment turns cautious
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's losses to open lower today, as investor sentiment turned cautious after the equity sale by Bandar Malaysia to Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corperation (M) Sdn Bhd (CREC) was aborted yesterday.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 7.18 points or 0.4%, to 1,765.33 from Wednesday's close of 1,772.51.
At 9am, the index opened 4.58 points lower at 1,767.93.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 194 to 89 while 245 counters remained unchanged with 1,222 untraded and 29 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 197.04 million shares worth RM101.95 million.
Yesterday, Bandar Malaysia's master developer, TRX City Sdn Bhd, said the agreement with IWH CREC, on the sale of 60% of the issued and paid-up capital of Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd, had lapsed due to the failure of the purchasing parties to fulfill payment obligations.
In a note today, Public Investment Bank Bhd said the deal between Bandar Malaysia and IWH-CREC which was aborted had weakened investor sentiment.
Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) pointed out that property and construction stocks could feel some pressure after the deal lapsed.
"Further profit taking activities could be seen on the local bourse following the mixed development on Wall Street overnight.
"The FBM KLCI is likely to consolidate after the key index rejected the 1,780-level yesterday," said HLIB.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gave up nine sen to RM9.18, Tenaga lost four sen to RM13.90, Public Bank was 10 sen lower at RM20.04 while Sime Darby and CIMB Group rose two sen each to RM9.32 and RM5.83, respectively. IWC remained flat at RM3.08.
Of actives, Ekovest, Dagang Nexchange and DataPrep slipped 20 sen each to RM1.23, 64.5 sen and 53 sen, respectively, and AirAsia X eased half-a-sen to 46.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 49.77 points to 12,620.24, the FBMT100 Index was 47.19 points lower at 12,246.73, the FBM Emas Syariah Index inched down 8.02 points to 12,963.52 and the FBM 70 lost 48.52 points to 15,089.49.
The FBM Ace, however, was 8.23 points higher at 6,259.38.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 34.75 points higher at 8,066.21 and the Industrial Index advanced 5.79 points to 3,254.20 but the Finance Index dipped 198.12 points to 16,221.40.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM166.94 per gramme, down RM1.46 from RM168.40 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama