Bursa Malaysia opens marginally lower but rebounds thereafter
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower this morning but rebounded thereafter, lifted by buying interests in selected heavyweights and lower-liners.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,781.54, up 0.83 of-a-point, from Tuesday's close of 1,780.71.
The key index opened 0.40 of-a-point easier at 1,780.31.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd said the FBM KLCI today could follow the bearish performance on the US as well as European stocks.
"We expect the trend in the US stock markets to maintain a positive gradual uptrend towards the 21,800-level with the re-emergence of buying support on technology stocks despite the short term weakness attributed to the softer crude oil prices.
"Meanwhile, share prices on Bursa Malaysia would see continuation of profit-taking across-the-board with the weaker crude oil price," it said in a research note.
The research firm said traders might use selling-into-strength strategy with the spillover of negative sentiments from the overseas markets.
"The FBM KLCI's upside is likely to be pegged around 1,800, while the support will be located around 1,780, followed by 1,760," it said.
On the broader market, losers led gainers by 119 to 95 while 180 counters remained unchanged with 1,395 untraded and 22 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 72.95 million shares worth RM28.94 million.
Of heavyweights, Maybank, CIMB and PChem were one sen lower to RM9.63, RM6.63 and RM7.14, respectively, while Public Bank gained 10 sen to RM20.42, IOICorp added eight sen to RM4.58, HLFG expanded 34 sen to RM17.48.
TNB erased two sen to RM14.30, PChem and FGV each eased one sen to RM7.14 and RM1.76, respectively while Maxis went down three sen to RM5.59.
Among actives, HUbline and KNM were flat at six sen and 27 sen, respectively, CCK increased five sen to 93.5 sen and Anzo declined half-a-sen to 15.5 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBMT100 Index gained 1.10 points to 12,303.44, the FBM Ace expanded 8.32 points to 6,201.96, the FBM Emas Index rose 0.92 of-a-point to 12,658.89, the FBM Emas Syariah Index declined 13.81 points to 12,853.910 and the FBM 70 shed 15.98 points to 14,950.36.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 34.19.23 points higher at 7,991.57, the Industrial Index narrowed 3.91 points to 3,270.75 while the Finance Index rose 37.01 points to 16,870.08.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM166.05 per gramme, down seven sen from RM166.12 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama