KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Bursa Malaysia continued its downtrend from yesterday to open lower in early trade today as uncertainty loomed over the pace of US Federal Reserve hike timings in 2017, dealers said.
At 9.12am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.79 points lower at 1,634.20 from 1,636.99 yesterday. It opened 2.68 points easier at 1,634.31.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 89 to 85, with 129 counters unchanged, 1,411 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 82.46 million shares worth RM39.36 million.
A dealer said investors were still adopting a defensive approach after the Fed’s move to increase interest rates by 25 basis points, which means investors would shift their money into US dollar-denominated assets.
The FBM Emas Index gave up 18.59 points to 11,440.09, the FBMT100 Index shed 15.31 points to 11,172.23 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 30.85 points to 11,973.74.
The FBM 70 was down 4.38 points to 13,144.33 and the FBM Ace eased 4.56 points to 4,744.87.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 6.39 points to 7,765.10, but the Industrial Index added 0.14 point to 3,098.10 and the Finance Index shed 5.21 points to 14,337.89.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM7.90, Petronas Chemicals gave up two sen to RM6.83 and IHH Healthcare lost one sen to RM6.38, but TNB garnered four sen to RM13.80 and Public Bank added two sen to RM19.68.
Of the losers, Nestle slipped RM1.90 to RM76.60, BAT decreased 18 sen to RM44.14, Kuantan Flour Mills declined 15.5 sen to nine sen while Scientex and Petronas Dagangan each dropped 14 sen to RM6.77 and RM23.62 respectively. — Bernama
