KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Bursa Malaysia were mixed in early trade as a “tug of war” between mild bargain-hunting and selling emerged on concerns over the United States’ Dec 15 tariff deadline on Chinese goods.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.55 of-a-point lower at 1,561.24, weighed by losses in mainly plantation counters.
The index opened 3.03 weaker at 1,558.76 compared to yesterday close of 1,561.79.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 152 to 110 while 184 counters unchanged, 1,523 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 119.74 million shares worth RM57.13 million.
Investors are also waiting for a statement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) after concluding its two-day meeting.
Washington is due to impose new tariff hikes on US$160 billion worth of Chinese goods if the two sides fail to reach an accord before its mid-month deadline.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI listed stocks may continue marking time amid lack of noteworthy leads in the market, thereby keeping market interest subdued for longer.
“Apart from the lack of leads, there is also sustained wariness over the key index’s near term direction due to the still net selling by foreign funds that could also curtail the strength of any potential window-dressing activities later in the month,” it said.
Among heavyweights, IHH rose five sen to RM5.30, MISC was eight sen higher at RM8.38 and Public Bank went up six sen to RM19.02.
In contrast, TNB went down eight sen to RM13.18, IOI dropped seven sen to RM4.49 and Axiata declined four sen to RM4.16.
Sime Darby Plantation was four sen easier at RM5.24 and KLK dropped 24 sen to RM24.26.
Petronas-linked counters remained in the red, with PetChem was three sen lower at RM6.97, Petronas Dagangan lost 20 sen to RM22.30 and Petronas Gas edged down two sen to RM15.40.
Of actives, WCE climbed 1.5 sen to 32 sen, while Media Chinese and Mlabs rose half-a-sen each to 22 sen and 5.5 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index increased 1.03 points to 11,111.76 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 11.93 points to 11,693.17 while the FBMT 100 Index up 1.10 points to 10,912.52.
The FBM Ace went up 15.17 points to 4,935.20 and the FBM 70 improved 21.84 points to 13,909.55.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 18.05 points to 15,203.55, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.11 of-a-point to 149.49 and the Plantation Index fell 41.84 points to 7,423.99. — Bernama
