KL shares open lower on US interest rate concerns

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning as investor sentiment was dampened on fresh concerns over an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
At 9.11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,623.56 points, down 3.21 points from 1,626.77 at yesterday's close, after opening 2.61 points easier at 1,624.16 this morning.
Gainers were slightly higher against losers by 111 to 100, with 150 counters remaining unchanged, 1,355 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 98.55 million shares worth RM29.23 million.
A dealer said buying sentiment weakened following US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's remarks that US interest rates would likely rise "relatively soon".
"If the Federal Reserve increases interest rates, investors will pull their funds out from Asian markets, including Malaysia, and shift their investments to US dollar-denominated assets," he added.
Among heavyweights on Bursa, TNB eased two sen to RM14.20, Maybank declined five sen to RM7.70 while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals fell four sen each to RM19.52 and RM6.89 respectively.
Of the actives, APFT and Perak Transit increased one sen to eight sen and 17 sen respectively, while Metronic Global was flat at eight sen.
The FBM Emas Index declined 13.43 points to 11,446.37, the FBMT100 Index was 16.04 points weaker at 11,154.83 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index lost 10.6 points to 12,088.37.
The FBM 70 rose 2.61 points to 13,3250.11 and the FBM Ace fell 1.47 points to 4,982.94.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 8.03 points lower at 7,786.31, the Finance Index decreased 24.79 points to 14,113.87 and the Industrial Index declined 5.12 points to 3,068.61.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM165.74 per gramme, down RM2.08 from RM167.82 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama