KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower today on weaker external sentiment with the US Federal Reserve continuing to cut back on its bond-buying programme, dealers said.
At 9.16am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,815.56, down 1.88 points, after opening 3.15 points lower at 1,814.29.
HwangDBS Vickers Research said major US equity barometers plunged 0.6-0.7 per cent following the decision by the US policymakers to make a further reduction in the pace of its asset purchases by an additional US$10 billion (RM32.7 billion) a month beginning in April.
“This will likely force our Malaysian equities to face renewed selling pressures today,” it said in a research note today.
On the chart, it said the benchmark FBM KLCI could pull back towards the psychological support mark of 1,800.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 2.289 points to 16,414.72 while the Plantation Index expanded 46.29 points to 8,895.11 and the Industrial Index improved 1.97 points to 3,163.99.
The FBM Emas Index was down 9.96 points to 12,585.13, the FBMT100 Index slipped 10.43 points to 12,251.48 and the FBM 70 eased 3.05 points to 13,837.67. The FBM Ace firmed 29.89 points to 6,704.23.
Gainers led losers 137 to 128 while 178 counters were unchanged, 1,179 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 113.45 million shares worth RM61.84 million.
Among actives, MQ Technology and Kuantan Flour Mills gained 1.5 sen each to 14.5 sen and 56 sen respectively, and Ingenuity and Hubline added 0.5 sen each to 10.5 sen and 5 sen respectively. HB Global climbed 1 sen to 14 sen.
As for heavyweights, Maybank, TNB and Sime Darby were flat at RM9.57, RM11.94 and RM9.20 respectively. CIMB and Axiata lost 1 sen each to RM7.06 and RM6.48 respectively. — Bernama
