KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Bursa Malaysia eased in early trade today, tracking a weaker Wall Street at close last Friday, as well as a subdued traders participation.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 10.75 points to 1,616.26 after easing 1.66 points to 1,625.35 at opening compared with Friday’s close of 1,627.01.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 278 to 186, while 310 counters were unchanged, 1,322 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 419.16 million units worth RM149.36 million.

Advertisement

Axi chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes said Wall Street declined on Friday due to the big miss on US retail spending in December.

“The much softer than expected data tone adds gravity to President-elect Bidens’ US$1.9 trillion stimulus package pushed forward last Thursday,” he said.

Back home, Malacca Securities said with the retreat of crude palm oil prices, coupled with the speculation of another round of Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) cut on Wednesday, investors could further reduce their position in the plantation and banking heavyweights — that may translate to potential negative trading tone among banking stocks and drag down the FBM KLCI this week.

Advertisement

“Also, market sentiment may remain weak amid rising Covid-19 cases despite the re-imposition of the movement control order,” it said in a note today.

On the flipside, the research firm expects some rotational plays towards the building materials segment amid the firmer commodity prices such as tin, iron and aluminium. 

Among the heavyweights, 18 counters were in the red led by PetChem, which decreased 21 sen to RM7.30, Maybank and CIMB eased 10 sen to RM81.5 and RM4.00, respectively, while Public Bank dropped 24 sen to RM20.96.

In contrast, Supermax added eight sen to RM6.78 and Top Glove rose two sen to RM6.44.

Of the actives, Pegasus Heights was flat at 2.5 sen, while PRG Holdings improved 1.5 sen to 30 sen and Asia Poly rose two sen to 32 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 65.21 points to 11,641.13, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 66.82 points to 11,373.71, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 32.35 points to 13,172.34.

The FBM 70 eased 52.53 points to 14,775.88, while the FBM ACE improved 17.37 points to 10,813.48.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 174.46 points to 14,856.92, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.11 points to 177.69, and the Plantation Index decreased 5.38 points to 7,359.98. — Bernama