KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were lower in early trade today, tracking the overnight fall on Wall Street, and with no follow through buying support to lift the market after closing higher in the preceding two days, dealers said.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,570.65, up 6.91 points, after opening 7.93 points lower at 1,574.51.
Losers led gainers 247 to 58, while 153 counters remained unchanged, 1,343 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 164.90 million shares worth RM74.35 million.
Alliance DBS research in a note said, given the scenario over the past two days, the market is likely to stay between 1,560 and 1,600 going forward.
“Buyers and sellers are expected to battle each other for control of the game play.
“A crossover of 1,600 should see a test of the next resistance zone at between 1,620 – 1,626.
“The analysis of overall market action yesterday also revealed that buying power was weaker than selling pressure, and as such, the FBM KLCI would likely trade below the 1,580.25 level today,” it added.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 75.84 points to 10,778.54, the FBMT100 Index was down 74.85 points to 10,509.86, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 86.51 points to 11,155.15.
The FBM 70 eased 67.24 points for 11,540.25 and the FBM Ace depreciated 32.69 points to 5,235.51.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index reduced 85.80 points to 14,163.80, the Industrial Index shed 13.11 points for 3,053.13 and the Plantation Index slid 22.01 points to 6,842.46.
Among actives, Kulim Bhd Warrant © added 10 sen to 55 sen, AirAsia X shed one sen to 17 sen, while The Media Shoppe and Frontken were both flat at 14.5 sen and 19.5 sen respectively.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was down four sen to RM8.42, Public Bank and TNB slipped 12 sen each to RM17.82 and RM10.32 respectively, Axiata slid eight sen to RM5.70 and Sime Darby fell 11 sen to RM7.82. — Bernama
