KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened easier this morning, in tandem with regional peers, with sentiment clouded by the weaker Wall Street performance, as well as growing concerns over the state of global trade.
At 9.05am, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.51 points to 1,647.25 from 1,650.76 at 5pm on last Friday.
The barometer index opened 0.83 of a point lower at 1,649.93.
For the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 186 to 62, with 139 counters unchanged, 1,495 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 128.02 million worth RM43.64 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd in a note said after a streak of upsides, the benchmark index is already near its technical overbought zone and a retreat is in store.
As it is, the recent gains were not accompanied by significant improvements in the country’s fundamental outlook, with valuations still fair and gains selective.
“Therefore, we think that the FBM KLCI is ripe for a pullback as conditions are looking toppish.
“The continuing weakness in overseas indices is also providing little improvement to global market sentiment as the trade war deepened after the US threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican goods,” the research firm said.
It said the pullback might see the FBM KLCI retreating to the 1,644 and 1,640 levels, with resistance at the 1,658-1,660 levels.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he would impose a 5 per cent tariff on all imported goods from Mexico from June 10, a tax that would “gradually increase” until the flow of undocumented immigrants from across the border stopped.
On Bursa, among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.04 as Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM8.33 and CIMB rose three sen to RM5.30.But, Public Bank lost two sen to RM23.58, while Tenaga slipped one sen to RM12.60.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Bumi Armada, Sapura Energy, and IRIS Corp shed half-a-sen each to 19.5 sen, 29 sen and 16 sen respectively, while Eduspec was flat at three sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 39.6 points to 11,548.77, the FBMT 100 Index eased 39.05 points to 11,411.45 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 58.15 points to 11,737.61, as the FBM 70 gave up 108.4 points for 14,132.13 and the FBM Ace fell 26.61 points to 4,272.81.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved 20.49 points to 16,868.53 and the Industrial Products & Services Index bagged 0.01 of-a-point to 160.06, but the Plantation Index slipped 2.41 points to 6,920.45.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM170.34 per gramme, up RM1.58 from RM168.76 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama
