Bursa Malaysia opens marginally lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower today, even as demand for selected heavyweights emerged after recent losses, dealers said.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 0.80 of a point to 1,658.80 from Wednesday's close of 1,659.60.
The index opened 1.41 points lower at 1,658.19.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 108 to 81, while 168 counters remained unchanged, with 1,315 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 62.97 million shares worth RM31.28 million.
Public Investment Bank Bhd said the benchmark index might continue to trend lower today as uncertainty in the US Presidential election kept risk appetite suppressed across global markets.
"The Federal Reserve’s widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged had only a muted impact.
"Equity indices lost ground virtually across the board and the US dollar retreated, with the Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc and gold benefiting from the increasingly nervous mood," it said in a research note today.
The FBM Emas Index declined 2.71 points to 11,681.40, the FBMT100 Index slipped 2.19 points to 11,389.56, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 3.36 points to 12,293.15.
The FBM 70 rose 9.18 points to 13,578.69 and the FBM Ace fell 2.91 points to 5,002.09.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 15.83 points weaker at 7,750.20, the Finance Index added 2.68 points to 14,417.16, while the Industrial Index dipped 7.40 points to 3,148.56.
Of the heavyweights, TNB gained two sen to RM14.34, Maybank perked one sen to RM7.82, Public Bank advanced four sen to RM19.90, while Petronas Chemicals declined one sen to RM6.99.
Of the actives, Dnonce earned one sen to 30.5 sen, while Technodex, Sumatec Resources and Nexgram were flat at 18 sen, 5.5 sen and 5.0 sen respectively.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were flat in the early trading session today.
At 9.40am, November 2016, December 2016, January 2017 and February 2017 remained at RM174.90, RM175.30, RM175.15 and RM175.25 a gramme respectively.
Open interest totalled 230 contracts.
At 9.30am, physical gold stood at RM169.41 a gramme, up 19 sen from RM169.22 a gramme at 5 pm on Wednesday. — Bernama