Bursa Malaysia slightly lower in early trade
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was slightly lower in early trade this morning in tracking continued investor concerns over the rise in interest rates in the United States (US) next year, amid an improvement in crude oil prices, dealers said.
At 9.12am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,632.79 points, slipping 1.51 point from Monday's close of 1,634.30.
The index opened 0.74 of a point lower at 1,633.56.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 99 to 83, with 157 counters unchanged, 1,393 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 90.08 million shares worth RM39.13 million.
A dealer said oil prices rose on news that the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was shot and killed in Ankara.
It was reported that investors turned cautious about the geopolitical risks resulting in higher crude prices by forcing some traders to unwind bearish bets that the value of futures would decline.
February Brent Crude on London's Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures gained 0.5% to US$54.92 (RM246) a barrel.
Meanwhile, Alliance DBS Research said the fall of the FBM KLCI index to below 1,629 points, could trigger the fear of more market declines which could send it down to the subsequent support zone of 1,619 - 1,624 points.
"The analysis of overall market action yesterday revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure.
"As such, FBM KLCI would likely trade above the 1,635.89 level today," it said in a note.
Among heavyweights on Bursa, Maybank slid one sen to RM7.91, TNB added two sen to RM13.72, Public Bank eased four sen to RM19.70 and Sime Darby was flat at RM8.15.
Of the actives, Green Packet bagged 1.5 sen to 29 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum added half-a-sen to 39 sen and Visdynamics Holdings gained three sen to 30.5 sen AirAsia.
The FBM Emas Index fell 2.81 points to 11,429.20, the FBMT100 Index was 3.75 points lower at 11,151.68 and the FBM Ace eased 15.87 points to 4,754.89.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index rose 4.32 points to 11,969.40 and the FBM 70 advanced 20.64 points to 13,081.62.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 0.99 of a point higher at 7,704.72, the Finance Index fell 13.03 to 14,333.31 and the Industrial Index slipped 4.38 points to 3,083.31.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM158.43 per gramme, down 26 sen from RM158.69 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama