KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Stocks in Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower today as concerns over faltering global growth heightened.
Public Investment Bank Bhd in a note said the US jobs data had significantly missed its forecasts, adding to the trend of weak global economic data and the deepening concern about the impact of US-China trade war.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.56 of-a-point lower at 1,679.34 from Friday’s close of 1,679.90.
The index opened 0.24 of-a-point higher at 1,680.14.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 124 to 95, while 188 counters remained unchanged, 1,497 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 114.73 million shares worth RM65.75 million.
The research note also noted that global stocks chalked up their biggest weekly drop since early December, while the dour mood sent investors scurrying for the relative safety of government debt, handing US Treasury their biggest weekly rally in three months.
On Friday, US stocks fell after non-farm payrolls grew by only 20,000 posts in February, short of forecasts of 180,000.
Among heavyweights, Maybank, PChem and IHH were flat at RM9.53, RM9.25 and RM5.88, respectively, PBBank erased two sen to RM24.48, Tenaga reduced six sen to RM12.64 but CIMB gained two sen to RM5.41.
Of actives, IFCAMSC rose 2.5 sen to 46.5 sen, Dayang added 11 sen to RM1.69, EconBhd rose 2.5 sen to 50 sen, GKent improved four sen to RM1.24 while Hibiscs fell two sen to RM1.01.
The FBM Emas Index dropped 1.38 points to 11,737.85, the FBMT 100 lost 4.05 points to 11,586.43 and the FBM 70 decreased 5.61points to 14,156.17, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 2.80 points to 11,735.02.
But the FBM Ace Index advanced 13.85 points to 4,704.18.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index erased 4.46 points to 7,259.68, however, the Financial Services Index was 13.04 points higher at 17,505.44, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.0 points better at 169.54. — Bernama
