KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today on profit-taking activities and in tandem with the downtrend among regional peers, following the weaker overnight close on Wall Street.
At 9.13am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,686.44, down 2.1 points, after opening at 1,686.35.
Gainers led losers 180 to 129, while 189 counters were unchanged, 1,303 counters untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 224.76 million shares worth RM82.29 million.
A dealer said the market opened bearish, weighed down by falling crude prices and a possible interest rate hike as soon as next month.
Kenanga Research said at yesterday’s closing bell, the FBMKLCI managed to claw back earlier losses, lifted by Tenaga which surged 56.0 sen after news emerged that it submitted the lowest bid for Edra Global Energy Bhd.
The FBMKLCI inched up 2.92 points to close at 1,688.54 on the back of lower trading volume.
“Dampened by the recent talk of an imminent interest rate hike in December by the US Fed, investors’ sentiment is expected to remain gloomy ahead of the US non-farm payroll report today.
“Sideways trading within 1,680-1,700 is expected later today,” said the research house.
On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index fell 2.86 points to 11,729.88 and the FBMT100 Index decreased 3.0 points to 11,408.23, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 4.02 points to 12,569.97.
The FBM Ace improved 3.54 points to 6,400.34 and the FBM 70 rose 37.52 points to 12,984.76.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index went up 8.20 points to 14,341.34, the Industrial Index stregthened 12.41 points to 3,332.22 and the Plantation Index added 18.62 points to 7,651.16.
Among heavyweights, Maybank eased one sen to RM8.37, TNB decreased 14 sen to RM13.06 and Axiata edged down two sen to RM6.13, while Public Bank was flat at RM18.20.
Among the top losers, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 34 sen to RM22.62, Time Dotcom dropped 25 sen to RM6.80, KKB Engineering declined 11 sen to RM1.65 and IJM Plantations gave up 10 sen to RM3.42. — Bernama
