Bursa Malaysia slightly lower in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower this morning on the back of weak market sentiment as investors took cue from an easier Wall Street performance, amid declining oil prices, dealers said.

At 9.05am, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.45 points weaker at 1,674.71 from Monday’s close of 1,676.16 after opening 1.33 points lower at 1,674.83.

MaybankIB Research said profit-taking in second and third liners would likely continue amid global growth concerns, while consumer stocks remained in the limelight as volatility spiked.

The research house expects the barometer index to hold above its immediate support of 1,670.

“We expect the FBM KLCI to range between 1,660 and 1,690 today with downside supports located at 1,658 and 1,644,” the research house said in a note today.

Overall market breadth, however, was slightly better with gainers outnumbering losers 100 to 82, while 142 counters were unchanged, 1,875 untraded and 32 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 81.51 million shares worth RM23.29 million.

For heavyweights, Tenaga lost six sen to RM13.80, Petronas Chemicals eased five sen to RM8.30 and CIMB trimmed one sen to RM5.64.

Maybank, however, improved one sen to RM9.44, with Public Bank flat at RM24.70.

Of actives, Tatt Giap, Jag, Protasco, Hubline, Berjaya Corporation and Daya Materials were all flat at 14.5 sen, 7.5 sen, 29.5 sen, six sen, 29.5 sen and one sen respectively.

Bursa Malaysia Leap Market debutant, Uni Wall App Holdings Bhd ( UniWall), secured a premium of four sen at the opening bell over the offer price of 20 sen.

The FBM Emas Index slipped 3.85 points to 11,554.4, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 4.71 points to 11,441.51 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index eased 3.1 points to 11,464.71.

However, the FBM 70 perked 15.86 points to 13,514.25 and the FBM Ace Index bagged 3.85 points to 4,428.34.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 24.74 points for 17,370.26, but the Plantation Index gained 5.76 points to 7,110.98 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.23 of-a-point to 161.55.

The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM164.59 per gramme, down 21 sen from RM164.80 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama