Bursa Malaysia opens lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia started trading on a lower note today and on weakened buying power as negative sentiment clouded the market.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,627.76 points, easing 2.62 points from Wednesday's close of 1,630.38.

The index opened 1.01 points weaker at 1,629.37.

Losers were on par with gainers at 79, with 129 counters unchanged, 1,444 untraded and 42 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 54.41 million shares worth RM17.43 million.

A dealer said the prospect of higher US interest rates has led investors to divert their money from emerging markets.

"This can be seen in early trading today and despite Wall Street's overnight rally and US Treasuries trimming losses in a session that also saw the greenback hit a fresh 13-year high.

"Robust US data suggested that the country's economy is in better health than thought," he added.

Regionally, equity markets were mixed with Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipping 0.01 per cent to 22,676.69, but Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.99 per cent to 18,342.58 and Singapore's Straits Times was 0.69 per cent better at 2,839.69.
Among heavyweights on Bursa, TNB and Maybank both bagged two sen to RM14.22 and RM7.7 respectively, as Public Bank shed four sen to RM19.52, while Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM6.9 and RM6.43, respectively.

Of the losers, BAT slipped 64 sen to RM43.86, F&N dropped 20 sen to RM23.4, Can-One eased 15 sen to RM3.59, as Genting Bhd edged down nine sen to RM8.06.

Of the actives, Green Packet rose a 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen, while Sumatec, Berjaya Corp and Perisai Petroleum were flat at six sen, five sen and 6.5 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index fell 15.18 points to 11,488.69, the FBMT100 Index was 14.96 points lower at 11,165.51 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index narrowed 12.56 points to 12,047.0.But, the FBM 70 fell 6.89 points to 13,272.03.

The FBM Ace improved 17.13 points to 4,984.78.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 12.89 points lower at 7,666.71, the Finance Index was unchanged at 14,154.27 and the Industrial Index dropped 5.78 points to 3,074.19.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM164.24 per gramme, down RM.42 from RM167.66 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama