KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's losses to open easier today as overall investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the overnight policy rate (OPR) announcement later today.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.13 points to 1,570.54 from Wednesday's close of 1,575.67.
The barometer index opened 3.58 weaker at 1,572.09.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 321 to 165, while 297 counters were unchanged, 1,373 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 470.74 million shares worth RM332.50 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the broader market may further consolidate as concerns over the expansion of the movement control order (MCO 3.0) to several districts in Johor, Perak and Terengganu may dampen buying interest today.
It said investors will also keep an eye on the OPR announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), which many analyst anticipated that the central bank to maintain the 1.75 per cent rate at its third meeting later today.
"On a side note, the government has launched a RM3.5 bilion Jaringan Prihatin stimulus package to subsidise data plan subscriptions and mobile device purchases.
"Commodity-wise, oil prices have been rising, boosted by higher fuel demand amid easing of lockdowns in the US and parts of Europe during summer," it added.
The research house expects the launch of Jaringan Prihatin may shine a light on the telecommunications sector.
"Besides, we continue to like sectors with high earning certainties amid the pandemic, including essential consumer, packaging and lumber related stocks," it said.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM8.22, Public Bank fell one sen to RM4.10 and PetChem flat at RM8.16.
Among the actives, Tanco gained one sen to 10 sen, KTG inched up half-a-sen to 22.5 sen, Dataprep expanded 22 sen to RM2.17, and Saudee bagged three sen to 22.5 sen.
Of the gainers, Widetech gained 32 sen to RM1.30, F&N and KLK perked 16 sen each to RM29.18 and RM21.76, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 41.20 points lower at 11,563.64, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 64.71 points to 12,941.18, the FBMT 100 Index fell 38.96 points to 11,217.44, the FBM 70 contracted 61.84 points to 15,219.77, and the FBM ACE lost 64.97 points to 8,404.97.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased 0.30 of-a-point to 197.99, the Plantation Index bagged 9.40 points to 6,926.25, and the Financial Services Index gained 9.14 points to 14,765.30. — Bernama
