KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning, tracking the downtrend in the regional bourses as weak sentiment curbed investors’ risk appetite,
At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 5.34 points to 1,599.97 from 1,605.31 recorded at Tuesday’s close.
At the opening bell, the barometer index was 3.89 points weaker at 1,601.42.
However, on the broader market, gainers led losers 106 to 78, while 196 counters unchanged, 1,628 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 118.79 million shares worth RM41.50 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said yesterday’s intraday consolidation and the subsequent recovery, while surprising, masked the underlying indifference in the market where there are still few impetuses for market players to follow.
The research firm does not anticipate a large market movement due to the lack of leads with the ongoing results reporting to provide some of the near-term leads for the market.
“As it is, there are also still few developments in the US-China trade negotiations with conflicting news on the issue to place market players on a guarded mode for longer, in our opinion.
“Apart from the above levels, the other support and resistance levels are at 1,590 and 1,620 respectively,” it said in a note, adding that the key index likely to linger around the 1,600 to 1,610 levels over the near-term.
Of the heavyweights, Tenaga lost eight sen to RM13.68, Public Bank gave up 10 sen for RM19.90, while CIMB and IHH eased six sen each to RM5.32 and RM5.39 respectively.
However, Petronas Chemicals gained four sen to RM7.40 while Maybank was flat at RM8.65.
Of the actives, Alam Maritim bagged three sen to 13 sen, K-One and Dagang Nexchange added one sen each to 23.5 sen and 29 sen respectively, WCE shed three sen to 41 sen, while Seacera inched up half-a-sen to 55.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 29.34 points lower at 11,339.91, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 28.88 points to 11,151.15, the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 27.52 points to 11,868.21 and the FBM 70 shed 2.25 points to 14,081.89.
The FBM Ace, however, rose 18.97 points to 4,970.24
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 33.44 points to 15,626.94, but the Industrial Products & Services Index inched up 0.14 of-a-point to 153.44, while the Plantation Index gained 15.58 points to 6,979.41. — Bernama
