KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Bursa Malaysia has extended yesterday’s downtrend at the opening today due to the lack of fresh catalysts.
At 9.39am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.62 points to 1,560.14 from Wednesday’s close of 1,564.76.
The index opened 1.2 points better at 1,565.96.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 412 to 193, while 338 counters were unchanged, 1,270 untraded and 10 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 916.28 million units worth RM396.26 million.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said with the World Bank lowering its projection of Malaysia’s 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth amidst the slower-than-expected economic recovery, the local bourse’s sideways trade is likely to persist in the absence of a fresh catalyst due to the ongoing economic and public health crisis.
Investors might also be looking at the United States’ (US) first quarter 2021 GDP growth rate report as well as the Bank of England’s interest rate decision tonight, it said.
Commodities-wise, the research house noted that oil price has risen above US$75 per barrel.
“As such, investors might see some trading interest in oil and gas counters, while optimism in the plastic and packaging sector is expected following Scientex’s strong set of results,” it said, adding that with the record-breaking Nasdaq performance, buying support could spillover to technology stocks on the local front.
Of the heavyweights, Public Bank and CIMB added one sen each to RM4.20 and RM4.61, respectively, while Maybank and PetChem were flat at RM8.20 and RM8.00, respectively.
Tenaga slipped one sen to RM9.20 and IHH lost six sen to RM5.66.
Among the actives, MMAG bagged one sen to 17 sen, Fintec was flat at 3.5 sen, Serba Dinamik shed two sen to 57.5 sen, while Global Oriental rose 3.5 sen to 42.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 34.03 points lower at 11,375.64, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 33.5 points to 11,070.67, the FBM ACE erased 38.53 points to 7,461.06, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 55.86 points to 12,446.35, and the FBM 70 declined 47.62 points to 14,740.7.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 12.26 points to 15,273.04, while the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.93 of-a-point to 188.2, and the Plantation Index lost 9.36 points to 6,519.25. — Bernama
