KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Bursa Malaysia inched lower at the opening today on cautious sentiment with investors busy digesting the government's Gross Domestic Products (GDP) announcement last week, amid the deeper economic contraction in Japan which dragged its stock market and some Asian shares.
At 9.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.03 of-a-point to 1,544.43 from Friday's close of 1,544.46, after opening 1.49 points weaker at 1,542.97 this morning.
However, gainers led losers by 144 to 56 on the broader market, with 194 counters unchanged, 1,573 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 80.56 million shares worth RM27.88 million.
Japan’s Nikkei opened 1.08 per cent lower at 23,431.29.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Bursa Malaysia would likely see a recovery in the local shares today with the index expected to march towards the 1,560 resistance level, followed by the 1,570 level.
In contrast, the 1,535 level remains as the immediate support.
“Market sentiments remained upbeat on the lower liners despite the sluggish key index performance of late. We see the rotational play to remain on the table but any further gains will be dictated by a slew of corporate earnings release over the coming one to two weeks time,” it said in a note today.
Among heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank and Tenaga were flat each at RM8.47 and RM12.68 respectively, while Public Bank fell four sen to RM17.58 and Petronas Chemicals was three sen weaker at RM6.47.
Of the actives, Powerwell and TH Heavy Engineering rose one sen each to 30.5 sen and 13.5 sen respectively, but both Securemetric and Alam Maritim were flat at 15 sen and 15 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 3.31 points to 11,069.39, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 1.27 points to 11,900.30 and the FBMT 100 Index gained 7.93 points to 10,860.93.
The FBM 70 advanced 43.58 points to 14,114.60 and the FBM Ace inched up 5.44 points to 5,625.25.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.28 of-a-point to 146.43, the Financial Services Index was 6.94 points lower at 14,566.02 but the Plantation Index was 3.4 points higher at 7,338.51. — Bernama
