.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — Bursa Malaysia opened mixed as cautious sentiment dominated market tone on Thursday with investors digesting positive corporate earnings recorded for the fourth quarter of 2020.
While the positive corporate earnings signalled global economic recovery, analysts said Asian stocks are likely to retreat on Thursday following a decline in technology (due to profit-taking) and retail shares weighed on US benchmarks.
On Tuesday, technology giants Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc posted strong gains, leading the local technology index to register 3.2 per cent gains.
Conversely, the technology-led Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 2.2 points to 13,610.5 last night.
At 9.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.49 points to 1,581.50 from 1,582.99 at Wednesday’s close.
The index opened 0.89 points better at 1,582.10.
On the broader market, gainers thumped losers 232 to 92, while 230 counters were unchanged, 1,576 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 248.88 million units worth RM73.35 million.
Brokerage firm Rakuten Trade believes market volatility to continue as investors are now on a short-term mode.
“Yesterday’s wild swing seen for the FBM KLCI further suggests that investor sentiment remained rather fragile. Nonetheless, we reckon the index to maintain its uptrend around the 1,585/90 range with strong resistance at 1,600,” it said in a note on Thursday.
It expects buying interest on oil and gas stocks to continue as the Brent crude price inches towards the US$60 per barrel as it gained 1.8 per cent, hovering at US$58.50 on Wednesday.
Echoing Rakuten Trade, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that the oil and gas stocks set to trend higher as Brent oil price is hovering near the one-year high.
“Besides, the technology stocks may remain under the limelight as follow through buying interest might be observed for the second session. Also, market players might be trading on vaccine-related sectors as vaccine rollout plan is expected to commence in the near term,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM7.95, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.12, Petronas Chemicals fell four sen to RM7.06 and Top Glove was seven sen weaker at RM6.75.
Of the actives, KNM inched up half-a-sen to 19 sen, Luster Industries improved 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen, while Sanichi was half-a-sen weaker at 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 13.01 points to 11,502.32, the FBMT 100 Index gained 3.49 points to 11,228.29, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 0.83 of-a-point to 13,049.07.
The FBM 70 increased 59.27 points to 14,974.58 and the FBM ACE added 7.15 points to 10,952.29.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 46.79 points to 14,595.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.04 of-a-point to 173.84, while the Plantation Index erased 40.48 points to 7,133.88. — Bernama
