KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened the first trading day in the New Year on a negative note as buying momentum remained subdued, dealers said.
At 9.19am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 14.83 points easier at 1,746.42, after opening 4.1 points lower at 1,757.15.
A dealer said the market was taking a breather following the recent gains of the last two weeks.
“As long as the index does not retrace more than 50 per cent of the gains that was created on Dec 22, we believe the near-term bullish sentiment remains intact,” he added.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index lost 72.58 points to 11,993.7, the FBM 70 contracted 16.87 points to 13,048.21 and the FBM Ace shed 9.52 points to 5,643.87.
The FBMT100 Index declined 74.431 points to 11,738.06 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index trimmed 88.311 points to 12,418.72.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index fell 91.35 points to 15,613, the Plantation Index lost 63.5 points to 7,823.73 and the Industrial Index decreased 33.57 points to 3,145.53.
Losers outpaced gainers 160 to 76, while 121 counters were unchanged, 1,382 untraded and 9 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 119.54 million shares worth RM37.27 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank lost three sen to RM9.14, TNB and Axiata slipped two sen each to RM13.78 and RM7.03, respectively, Public Bank fell 20 sen to RM18.10 and Sime Darby eased 10 sen to RM9.09.
Of actives, Minetech, Malayan United Industries and Pan Malaysia added half-a-sen each to 12.5 sen, 30.5 sen and 34 sen, respectively.
Global Oriental lost two sen to 50 sen and PDZ slipped half-a-sen to 13.5 sen. ― Bernama
