KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower, weighed down by losses in Petronas-linked companies.
At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.37 points lower at 1,693.5, against yesterday’s close of 1,694.87 points.
It opened 1.65 points easier at 1,693.22 at 9am.
Gainers were slightly higher against losers, 168 to 118, on bargain hunting activity by retail investors in small-cap stocks, while 230 counters were unchanged, 1,173 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 215.35 million shares worth RM66.62 million.
Among top gainers in the early session were Petronas Dagangan, down 38 sen to RM23.12, Petronas Gas declined 14 sen to RM22 and Petronas Chemicals fell six sen to RM6.60.
On the technical front, Kenanga Research said the FBM KLCI was still continuing its sideways trading pattern on the back of tapering key momentum indicators.
“With investors’ sentiment turning shaky as displayed by yesterday’s decline in most small-to-mid cap stocks, the benchmark index is likely to close the week on a muted tone.
“Resistance are still pegged between 1,700 and 1,720, while supports are capped between 1,680 and 1,674,” Kenanga Research said in a note.
Among heavyweights, TNB and Public Bank added two sen each to RM14.82 and RM19.90, respectively, while Maybank rose one sen to RM8.01 and IHH increased five sen to RM6.73.
Of actives, Borneo Oil was half-a-sen lower at 18.5 sen, AirAsia X was one sen higher at 48.5 sen and Vivocom was flat at 31 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gave up 3.85 points for 11,898.91, the FBMT 100 Index lost 4.73 points for 11,597.52, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index declined 6.3 points to 12,543.86.
The FBM 70 increased 11.32 points to 13,716.56 and the FBM Ace was 2.16 points higher at 5,626.84.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 1.3 points to 14,534.8, the Plantation Index erased 0.38 of-a-point to 7,804.07 and the Industrial Index decreased 5.6 points to 3,183.18. — Bernama
