KL shares open marginally lower in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia edged marginally lower this morning on selective trading as traders remained on the sidelines, awaiting fresh leads, dealers said.
At 9.20am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.49 of-a-point easier at 1,785.08 from Thursday's 1,785.57 after opening 5.08 points lower at 1,782.86.
On the broader market, market breadth turned positive with gainers outpacing decliners 232 to 140 while 276 counters were unchanged, 1,132 untraded and 23 others were suspended.
Turnover at early trade stood at 226.68 million shares worth RM136.56 million.
AllianceDBS Research said weak follow-through selling interest around the 1,783.13 points range prompted supportive buying interest.
"Analysis of the overall market action for yesterday revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure.
"As such, FBMKLCI would likely trade above the 1,789.02 points level today," it said in a note.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index shed 0.02 of-a-point to 12,737.24, the FBMT100 Index trimmed 1.83 points to 12,373.83 while the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 6.22 points to 12,971.56.
The FBM 70 advanced 3.66 points to 15,209.07 and the FBM Ace appreciated 7.29 points to 6,338.77.
On a sectorial basis, the Finance Index bagged 9.24 points to 16785.88, the Industrial Index declined 0.44 of-a-point to 3,306.69 and the Plantation Index trimmed 8.71 points to 7,932.92.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and TNB were both two sen better at RM9.59 and RM14.20, respectively, Public Bank rose four sen to RM20.36, and Sime Darby was flat at RM9.59 while CIMB retraced half-a-sen to RM6.62.
Actively traded stocks this morning included Asia Bioenergy and Frontken which added half-a-sen each to 19.5 sen and 32 sen, respectively, Foundpac added 1.5 sen to 94 sen while Priceworth and Ecofirst gained one sen to 24 sen and 31.5 sen, respectively.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was slightly lower this morning with only one contract month traded.
As at 9.35am, August 2017 was 38 ticks easier at M176 a gramme while spot month June 2017, July 2017 and September 2017 stood unchanged at RM175.50 a gramme, RM177.40 a gramme and RM178.05 a gramme, respectively.
Turnover stood at one lot while open interest amounted to 233 contracts.
At 9.30am, physical gold was down RM1.28 at RM169.47 per gramme. — Bernama