KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower in line with a weaker overnight performance of Wall Street.
At 9.30am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) breached the 1,700-level this morning at 1,698.57, down 9.16 points from Thursday's close of 1,707.73.
The index opened 7.28 points lower at 1,700.45.
Public Investment Bank said the S&P 500 notched up its longest losing streak of 2019 as weak economic data earlier in the day pointed to the effects of US-China trade war on economic growth and global markets.
"Investors continue to wait for signs of a breakthrough to end the trade impasse,”it said in a note today.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 340 to 149, while 226 counters were unchanged, 1,165 untraded and 29 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 325.92 million shares worth RM186.29 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata rose two sen each to RM9.55 and RM4.18, respectively, while Public Bank increased four sen to RM25.04, Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM9.25, IHH Healthcare advanced five sen to RM5.78 and Petronas Gas expanded 14 sen to RM18.
Of actives, Sapura Energy edged up half-a-sen to 31.5 sen, V.S Industry improved 2.5 sen to RM1.02, Sino Hua-An was 1.5 sen higher at 19.5 sen, Vivocom was flat at two sen, Ahmad Zaki Resources fell five sen to 39.5 sen and Seacera eased 1.5 sen to 31 sen.
The FBM Emas Index trimmed 54.92 points to 11,771.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 77.38 points to 11,654.73 and the FBMT 100 decreased 54.18 points to 11,643.56.
The FBM Ace Index shed 39.61 points to 4,567.49 and the FBM 70 slipped 27.60 points to 13,916.81.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 11.16 points easier at 17,782.45, the Plantation Index erased 38.88 points to 7,199.6 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.11 of-a-point lower at 167.95. — Bernama
