KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia tracked last week’s lack of momentum to open lower today, amid the subdued external environment.
At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 15.64 points to 1,651.02 from Friday’s close of 1,666.66.
The index opened 14.52 points easier at 1,652.14.
On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 316 to 43, while 145 counters remained unchanged, 1,406 untraded and 40 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 176.36 million shares worth RM75.12 million.
In a note today, Public Investment Bank Bhd said on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 460 points or 1.8 per cent, to close at 25,502.32 last Friday, while the S&P 500 slumped 1.9 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index fared even worse, sliding 2.5 per cent.
“European markets finished sharply lower on Friday with shares in France leading the region,“ it added.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost five sen to RM9.25, Public Bank slid 10 sen to RM23.76. Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals were each eight sen lower at RM12.88 and RM8.95 respectively and CIMB was five sen weaker at RM5.16.
Of actives, PUC Bhd, Hubline, and Sino Hua-An inched down half-a-sen each to nine sen, 5.5 sen and 25 sen respectively.
Meanwhile, Sapura Energy and Talam Transform were flat at 34.5 sen and four sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index slid 112.32 points to 11,570.85, the FBMT 100 Index declined 107.14 points to 11,430.05 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 117.75 points to 11,637.4.
The FBM 70 fell 127.85 points to 14,124.7 and the FBM Ace Index was 26.99 points lower to 4,787.8.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 109.58 points to 17,065.19, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.27 points to 167.74 and the Plantation Index was 25.52 points lower at 7,167.33.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were untraded in the early session on subdued demand, a dealer said.
At 9.35 am, March 2019 and April 2019 each remained unchanged at RM171.30 a gramme, while May 2019 and June 2019 stood at RM171.70 and RM172.00 a gramme respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 23 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was up by 65 sen to RM166.27 per gramme. — Bernama
