KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower today, losses limited, as sentiment in the market recovered following positive external developments, dealers said.
At 9.04 am, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.32 points to 1,659.99 from yesterday’s close of 1,663.31.
The index opened 6.76 points lower at 1,656.55.
Losses in Petronas Gas dragged down the composite index by 1.053 points after falling 30 sen to RM18.80 with 700 shares changing hands.
Market breadth remained negative with decliners slightly outnumbering advancers 77 to 70, with 108 counters unchanged, 1,650 untraded and 36 others suspended.
Volume stood at 88.14 million units valued at RM22.62 million.
Public Investment Bank Bhd said the FBM KLCI might open higher today after a tense and choppy day for global equity markets which saw US stocks recover from an early sell-off, although the mood elsewhere remained unsettled by persistent uncertainty over the prospects for US-China trade and the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.
In a note it said, the improvement on Wall Street came as Apple recovered most of a steep opening drop.
“That followed news that a Chinese court had imposed a ban on the sale of certain iPhone models in the world’s largest mobile market,” it said.
Back home, among the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals lost two sen each to RM9.35 and RM9.17, Public Bank shed 10 sen to RM24.60, while CIMB slipped one sen to RM5.64.
Among actives, Prestariang inched down half-a-sen to 30 sen while Hubline, Sumatec, Bumi Armada and Tatt Giap were all flat at four sen, 1.5 sen, 15.5 sen and 23 sen respectively.
Manforce Group Bhd, newly-listed company on the Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform (LEAP) market, bagged a premium of 1.5 sen from its initial public offering of 18 sen per share.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 11.43 points weaker at 11,450.32, the FBM 70 rose 20.4 points to 13,340.23 and the FBM Ace Index gained 15.49 points to 4,611.89.
The FBM Emas Index fell 15.11 points to 11,448.39 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 13.37 points to 11,336.08.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index bagged 9.85 points at 6,692.08 and the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.03 of-a-point to 168.33, but the Financial Services Index fell 53.82 points to 17,222.09.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were unchanged this morning on a lack of demand.
At 9.42 am, December 2018, January 2019, February 2019 and March 2019 were unchanged at RM167, RM167, RM167.10 and RM167.2 a gramme respectively.
Volume was nil, while open interest amounted to 27 contracts.
At 9.30 am, the price of physical gold was up 23 sen to RM161.92 per gramme. — Bernama
