Bursa Malaysia opens slightly lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower on Monday on lack of buying demand for local stocks and in line with the performance of global stock markets, a dealer said.
At 9.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI)was 0.89 of-a-point easier at 1,775.3 against last Friday's 1,776.22.
The benchmark index opened 1.5 points lower at 1,774.72.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 113 to 42 with 160 counters unchanged, 1,527 untraded and 32 others were suspended.
A dealer said, traders were hoping to see the index move into the positive territory, following last week’s better gross domestic product (GDP) figures recorded for the second quarter (2Q17).
Bank Negara Malaysia reported a stronger growth of 5.8 per, cent year-on-year, in 2Q17, up from 5.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year, on the back of stronger external activities and private consumption.
In its economic update today, RHB Research Institute said it expected GDP growth to moderate in the second half due to slower exports.
“Given the strong first half GDP growth alongside an improvement in Malaysia’s growth prospects, we expect Malaysia’s real GDP growth to grow by a stronger pace of 5.3 per cent in 2017, from 4.2 per cent in 2016.
“This is on account of stronger projected growth in exports that could boost overall economic activity and domestic demand, as higher export growth would trickle down to an improvement in consumer spending and private investment; and a modest increase in public spending and investment,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM9.63, Tenaga eased four sen to RM14.20, Sime Darby perked one sen to RM9.29 and Public Bank was flat at RM20.58.
Among actives, XOX rose half-a-sen to 10.5 sen, Malaysia Building Society improved seven sen to RM1.34, Bioalpha inched up one sen to 26.5 sen but SIG Gases fell 11 sen to 99 sen.
The FBM Emas Index slipped 1.86 points to 12,624.36, FBM Emas Syariah Index eased two points to 12,768.88, FBMT 100 Index decreased 2.35 points to 12,281.91, the FBM Ace increased 9.52 points to 6,522.15 and FBM 70 rose 11.47 points to 15,004.38.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 1.17 points better at 16,778.65, the Industrial Index added 1.27 points to 3,231.55 while the Plantation Index shed 3.85 points to 7,821.15.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM171.31 per gramme, down RM1.41 from rm172.72 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama