KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today due to mild selling activitiy in selected heavyweights, despite positive sentiment on the regional markets.
At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.46 points to 1,508.78 from Monday’s close of 1,511.24.
The index opened 0.09 point weaker at 1,511.15.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 283 to 147, while 274 counters were unchanged, 1,228 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 727.65 million units worth RM246.34 million.
In a note today, Malacca Securities said the key index may continue to trade in a rangebound manner today, as demonstrated over the past two trading sessions due to lingering concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, it said gains on Wall Street coupled with the higher crude oil prices may continue to provide some support for the key index to march mildly higher.
“We think that the oil & gas sector will continue to thrive amid the rising crude oil prices (currently Brent oil is trading near US$43 per barrel) on the back of the recovering demand over the longer term.
“We continue to observe the 1,500 psychological level and we reckon that any upsides are capped at the 1,550 for the time being. Downside risk remains pegged at 1,490, followed by 1,460,” it said.
Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Maybank and TNB rose two sen each to RM7.68 and RM11.80 respectively, Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM6.28, while Public Bank declined 18 sen to RM16.60 and IHH Healthcare fell nine sen to RM5.43.
Of the most active, Iris Corp improved one sen to 18.5 sen, Radiant Globaltech went up 2.5 sen to 36.5 sen, Anzo earned half-a-sen to 12.5 sen while MQ Technology was flat at 6.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was down 5.05 points at 10,610.92, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 8.59 points to 10,458.64 but the FBM 70 advanced 22.95 points to 12,962.11.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 3.10 points better at 12,013.10, and the FBM ACE perked 46.37 points to 6,174.83.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.39 point to 135.19, the Financial Services Index depreciated 23.83 points to 12,990.39, while the Plantation Index gained 11.67 points to 6,758.41. — Bernama
