KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today on profit-taking activities following yesterday’s gains and lower overnight performance of Wall Street.
The US stocks ended lower after the country’s retail sales fell for the first time in seven months casting fears that weakness in the US economy was broadening beyond the manufacturing sector.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 1.75 points at 1,573.15, from Wednesday’s close of 1,574.90.
The benchmark index opened 1.86 points easier at 1,573.04
However, on the broader market, gainers led losers 110 to 82, while 185 counters were unchanged, 1,599 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 108.89 million shares worth RM45.82 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Malaysian equities continued to make headway as bargain hunting activities are still prevalent among beaten-down sector leaders of late as well as gains in many key global indices.
It said the near term outlook remained firm with further upsides as the key index continues to recover from its most recent sell-down.
“On the whole, however, market conditions are still mixed with the fresh buying not overwhelming as yet with quick profit-taking activities still tempering some of the upsides.
“Therefore, we maintain our view that the near term upsides will still be measured, albeit we also see potential bouts of profit-taking activities that could temper some of the upsides,” the research firm said.
On the upside, the resistances are at the 1,580 and 1,680 levels, with the supports pegged at the 1,550 and 1,560 levels, it added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added five sen at RM8.53, Petronas Chemicals gained four sen at RM7.33 while Tenaga shed four sen to RM13.72.
Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM19.23 and RM5.70 respectively.
Of the most active, Mestron improved one sen to 13 sen, Bumi Armada and Alam Maritim eased half-a-sen each at 40.5 sen and nine sen respectively, while Sapura Energy was flat at 27 sen.
The FBM Emas Index eased 4.58 points to 11,212.27, the FBMT 100 Index shed 4.78 points to 11,028.02 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 6.99 points to 11,829.39.
The FBM 70 rose 24.51 points to 14,189.17 and the FBM Ace went up 4.8 points to 4,719.23.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 16.92 points to 15,190.99, the Plantation Index fell 34.92 points to 6,638.90 while the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.16 of a point better at 151.62. — Bernama
