Bursa opens slightly lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower today in sluggish trading. However, the key index, FBM KLCI, is anticipated to pick up momentum, tracking the positive overnight Wall Street performance, said dealers.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,755.96, eased 1.17 points from Monday's close of 1,757.13.
The index barometer opened 2.51 points lower at 1,754.62.
Market breadth was marginally negative as decliners beat gainers 97 to 94 with 187 counters unchanged, 1,406 untraded while 33 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 74.92 million shares worth RM119.85 million.
In a note today, Public Investment Bank Bhd said, the FBM KLCI might nudge higher today after US stocks started the week on a moderately positive note overnight as Friday's non-farm payroll report continued to cast a warm glow over risk markets.
"To add to the positive environment, the market participants looked ahead to the forthcoming corporate earnings season," it said.
The S&P 500 went up 2.25 points to 2,427.43, while the Dow Jones mustered a decline of 5.82 points to 21,408.52.
On the scoreboard at home, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 3.58 points to 12,517.35, FBMT100 Index declined 4.06 points to 12,155.5 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index contracted 10.4 points to 12,727.69.
The FBM Ace advanced 6.4 points to 6,583.25 and the FBM 70 increased 10.35 points to 14,878.78.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 7.18 points lower at 7,868.5, Finance Index declined 5.22 points to 16,750.42 and the Industrial Index slipped 6.22 points to 3,249.69.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank rose four sen to RM20.36, Maybank added one sen to RM9.63 while Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM9.54 and RM6.89 respectively.
Tenaga, however, trimmed four sen to RM14.08.
Of the actives, MLABS rose 1.5 sen to 27 sen, YGL Convergence was up two sen to 20 sen, while market debutant, Lotte Chemical Titan, was flat at RM6.50, as well as Iris and Netx, which stood at 17.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively.
United Plantations topped the gainers' list after rising 58 sen to RM27.78, while LPI Captital led the losers' chart, giving up 12 sen to RM18.48.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30a.m stood RM161.99 at per gramme, up 42 sen from RM 161.57 at 5p.m yesterday. — Bernama