KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened lower today on mild profit taking in selected heavyweight counters, dealers said.
At 9.20am, the key index stood at 1,741.25, down 3.75 points, after opening 4.81 points weaker at 1,740.19.
RHB Research, however, said the buying momentum would likely continue as the index has stayed above the 1,700 points level for more than three weeks, suggesting that the short-term bullish sentiment remained unchanged.
“We believe the rebound that started from the “Bullish Engulfing” pattern formed on Jan 6-7 may still persist,” it said in a research note today.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 165 to 115 while 192 counters were unchanged, 1,275 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 211.49 million shares worth RM91.15 million.
On other scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index declined 18.63 points to 11,997.84, the FBMT100 Index fell 19.21 points to 11,716.34 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 5.39 points to 12,534.07.
The FBM 70 increased 1.94 points to 13,106.22 while the FBM Ace advanced 8.82 points to 6,109.69.
On a sectorial basis, the Industrial Index lost 2.28 points to 3,199.77, the Plantation Index shed 19.12 points to 7,788.32 while the Finance Index dropped 92.06 points to 15,300.73.
Among actives, Minetech and Asia Bioenergy earned half-a-sen each to 11 sen and 16.5 sen, respectively, IFCA MSC eased half-a-sen to 99 sen while Hubline was flat at four sen.
Of heavyweights, TNB and Maybank gave up six sen each to RM14.32 and RM8.54, respectively, Axiata shed two sen to RM7 but Public Bank added four sen to RM17.56. — Bernama
