KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was slightly lower in early trade today, with the key index retreating from yesterday gains on the back of selling in index-linked counters, ahead of the long weekend break and amid declining oil prices.
At 9.08 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.29 of-a-point easier at 1,682.68, from Thursday’s close of 1,682.97 after opening 0.89 of-a-point weaker at 1,682.08.
However, market breadth remained positive, as gainers continued to outnumber losers 139 to 82, while 139 counters were unchanged, 1,532 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 146.94 million shares worth RM50.72 million.
A dealer said Bursa struggled to keep its gains despite a relatively better performance of other regional peers and Wall Street on the back of growing hopes for an ease in US-China trade spat.
It was reported that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other officials were willing to lift some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and suggested offering a tariff rollback during trade discussions which scheduled on Jan 30.
In a note, Maybank IB Research believed the FBM KLCI to range between 1,670 and 1,700 today with the downside supports located at 1,658 and 1,644.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.42, Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM8.46, while Tenaga and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM13.60 and RM5.70.
Public Bank trimmed two sen to RM24.66 and CIMB slipped one sen to RM5.64.
Of actives, Bumi Armada perked two sen to 18 sen, Tatt Giap inched up half-a-sen to 11.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and Hubline slipped half-a-sen each to 28.5 sen and 5.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 3.52 points better at 11,653.95, the FBMT 100 Index increased 2.66 points to 11,532.82, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 3.69 points to 11,578.69, and the FBM 70 bagged 22.29 points to 13,775.29.
However, the FBM Ace Index lost 10.87 points to 4,452.72.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index slipped 3.33 points to 17,416.34 and the Plantation Index fell 57.2 points to 7,135.22, but the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.48 of-a-point to 162.32.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives opened untraded today.
At 9.40 am, January 2019, February 2019, March 2019 and April 2019 remained at RM170.50, RM170.50, RM171.00 and RM171.10 a gramme, respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 15 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was higher by 23 sen to RM165.14 per gramme. — Bernama
