KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher, but retreated thereafter today, as the 14th General Elections on May 9, kept investors on the sidelines. 

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 4.89 points at 1,836.94 from Friday’s close of 1,841.83.

The index opened 0.73-of-a-point higher at 1,842.56.

On the broader market losers led gainers 130 to 57, while 157 counters were unchanged, 1,517 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Volume stood at 73.65 million units valued at RM23.18 million. 

A dealer said typically, most investors would remain on the sidelines ahead of the general elections as Malaysia was still deemed a political market.

However, he said based on the country’s strong fundamentals, coupled with positive inflation data and good trade balance, the losses were just a temporary pre-election downtrend.

"Usually, the market would rebound after the elections as the wait-and-see investors would make a return thereafter,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed eight sen to RM10.54, CIMB was two sen lower at RM6.75, IHH Healthcare fell three sen to RM5.98, while Public Bank rose two sen to RM23.82 and Petronas Chemicals improved five sen  to RM8.50.

For actives, Maxwell, Sapura, UMW Oil and Gas, Sumatec and Nexgram were flat at one sen, 65.5 sen, 27.5 sen, 4.5 sen, 6.5 sen respectively.

Tenaga led the top loser lists by easing 14 sen to RM15.94, Malaysia Airports and Top Glove shed 12 sen each to RM8.70 and RM9.78, MISC eased 11 sen to RM7.01 and Unisem was seven sen weaker at RM1.65.

The FBM Emas Index retreated 33.61 points to 12,825.68, the FBMT 100 Index declined 34.01 points to 12,635.33, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 34.78 points to 13,052.66, the FBM Ace inched down 11.39 points to 5,216.78 and the FBM 70 lost 42.47 points to 15,236.41.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index slipped 15.78 points to 3,189.25 and the Finance Index was 42.60 points weaker at 17,906.78, while the Plantation Index advanced 2.70 points to 7,908.41. — Bernama