KL shares open lower in early trade
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia edged lower this morning on selective trading as traders remained on the sidelines, awaiting fresh leads, dealers said.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.64 points easier at 1,784.28 from Wednesday's 1,785.92, after opening 1.17 points lower at 1,784.75.
On the broader market, market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 122 to 99 while 205 counters were unchanged, 1,354 untraded and 23 others were suspended.
Turnover at early trade stood at 140.36 million shares worth RM52.36 million.
AllianceDBS Research said judging from yesterday's market performance, buying power was weaker than selling pressure.
"As such, the FBMKLCI would likely trade below the 1,785.92 level today," it said in a note.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index shed 8.41 points to 12,712.89, the FBMT100 Index trimmed 8.63 points to 12,351.45 while the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 12.53 points to 12,931.88.
The FBM 70 dwindled 0.29 of-a-point to 15,118.28 while the FBM Ace appreciated 13.70 points to 6,362.45.
On a sectorial basis, the Finance Index lost 14.37 points to 16,798.26, the Industrial Index declined 6.39 points to 3,290.88 and the Plantation Index climbed 2.61 points to 7,962.97.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was two sen better at RM9.57, Tenaga was down eight sen at RM14.12, Public Bank rose six sen to RM20.22 while Sime Darby retraced two sen to RM9.55.
Actively traded stocks this morning included AT Systematization and Frontken which were flat at 4.5 sen and 31.5 sen, respectively, and Panpages, Iris and AirAsia X gained half-a-sen to 31 sen, 15.5 sen and 42 sen, respectively.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was slightly lower this morning with only one contract month traded.
As at 9.35 am, July 2017 was 21 ticks to RM177.60 a gramme while spot month June 2017, August 2017 and September 2017 stood unchanged at RM177.20 a gramme, RM178.10 a gramme and RM178.25 a gramme, respectively.
Turnover stood at two lots while open interest amounted to 232 contracts.
At 9.30am, physical gold was down 73 sen at RM170.74 per gramme. — Bernama