KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today as global recession concerns resurged, especially after the Bank of England surprised everyone with a 50 basis points rate hike, a dealer said.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 1.57 points to 1,392.46 from 1,390.89 at Friday’s close.

The key index opened 0.66 of-a-point better at 1,391.55.

However, the broader market was negative with decliners surpassing advancers 152 to 126, while 250 counters were unchanged, 1,789 untraded and 40 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 236.09 million units worth RM80.70 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes that the market will continue to monitor economic data from Japan, the United States and China for further clarity on the current state of the economy this week.

"The pullback on Wall Street last Friday, coupled with the bigger-than-expected rate hike from the Bank of England as well as a higher-than-expected Japanese inflation may weigh on the market sentiment,” it said.

As for commodities, it said Brent crude oil traded above US$73 per barrel, while crude palm oil (CPO) price hovered above RM3,600 per tonne.

"Investors may look into the plantation stocks as CPO futures stayed above RM3,600, and they may also shift their focus back to sectors such as telecommunications and utilities as the recent rally on Wall Street appears to be running out of steam,” it said.

The brokerage also remained positive on travel-related counters.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and CIMB rose two sen each to RM3.90 and RM5.23, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional eased three sen to RM9.17, IHH Healthcare reduced two sen to RM5.84 and Maybank was flat at RM8.74.

Of the actives, Bahvest Resources edged up two sen to 18.5 sen and Sarawak Consolidated perked one sen to 43.5 sen, while Reach Energy and Cloudpoint Technology fell half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 54.5 sen, respectively, and Classita was flat at 9.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 5.94 points better at 10,238.12, the FBMT 100 Index increased 6.86 points to 9,940.58, and the FBM ACE Index earned 6.28 points to 5,049.15, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 6.30 points to 10,509.45 and the FBM 70 Index gave up 9.12 points to 13,447.07.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index ticked up 40.18 points to 15,485.03 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.18 of-a-point higher at 159.05, while the Energy Index slid 0.71 of-a-point to 784.37 and the Plantation Index trimmed 12.04 points to 6,706.40. — Bernama