KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Bursa Malaysia opened easier on Friday, tracking the overnight losses on US equities with investors chewing over the global economic recovery.
The local bourse trend was in line with its regional peers.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.13 per cent to 28,966.03, Japan's Nikkei down 0.83 per cent to 28,816.86, and China's SSE index shed 0.36 per cent to 3,584.21.
At 9.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.31 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 1,584.26 from 1,590.57 at Thursday's close.
The index opened 0.27 points lower at 1,590.30.
Market breadth was negative with losers slightly above gainers 183 to 175, while 237 counters were unchanged, 1,547 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 367.57 million units worth RM111.88 million.
Wall Street ended slightly lower on Thursday after a tough session as investors remained cautious despite upbeat economic data on employment and service sector activity, breaking a five-day winning streak.
The DJIA closed 0.07 per cent lower to end at 34,577.04, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 0.4 per cent and one per cent to end at 4,192.85 and 13,614.51, respectively.
On the local bourse, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI snapped a two-day gain over rising Covid-19 cases.
“Meanwhile, selldown was noticed in gloves and vaccine-related stocks, pulling the health care index down. Tracking the negative tone from the US stock markets, we expect the local exchange to trade sideways with the lack of fresh catalysts in the market,” it said in a note.
On a side note, the brokerage said MrDIY will be replacing Supermax in FBM KLCI following the FTSE semi-annual review.
It said the announcement of the inclusion may shine a light on consumer-related stocks.
Commodity-wise, it expects a mild pullback on crude palm oil (tracking the soybean futures movement), while crude oil firmly stood above US$70 for now.
“We reckon traders could focus on the oil and gas sector amid firmer crude oil price. Also, we expect technology stocks that are laggard, as well as IT software related segment to trade actively.”
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd expects the local market to trend sideways due to lack of catalysts and the FBM KLCI to hover in the range of between 1,585 and 1,595.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.20, Public Bank slipped three sen to RM4.21, Tenaga shed one sen to RM9.97, while PChem was five sen higher at RM8.10.
Top losers included Nestle which reduced RM1.10 to RM134.70, Hong Leong Financial which erased 56 sen to RM17.38, and Hartalega which was 12 sen weaker at RM8.56.
Top gainers included Computer Form which soared RM1.09 to RM4.73, MMC Corp which added 39 sen to RM1.69 and Box-Pak which was 10 sen higher at RM1.33.
Of the actives, Zelan rose 6.5 sen to 20 sen, Yong Tai improved 3.5 sen to 30 sen, and Tanco was flat at 15 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 26.39 points to 11,565.83 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 28.91 points to 11,253.75.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 19.16 points to 12,800.15, the FBM ACE inched down 4.42 points to 7,777.35, while the FBM 70 rose 23.18 points to 15,031.10.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index depreciated 73.86 points to 15,135.99, the Plantation Index eased 17.67 points to 6,825.12, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.01 of-a-point to 193.51. — Bernama
