Bursa opens lower on lack of buying interest

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today amid lack of buying catalysts, extending last week’s downtrend as it tracked Wall Street’s weaker performance on Friday.

At 9.16am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.63 points to 1,570.34 from last Friday’s close of 1,575.97.

It opened 2.19 points easier at 1,573.78.

Wall Street ended lower on Friday as investor sentiment turned negative following news of an 8.3 per cent year-on-year hike in the United States’ (US) producer price index in August.

Rakuten Trade in a note today said Wall Street continued to be plagued by the recent poor jobs data coupled with concerns over the Delta variant which may hamper US recovery.

“As for the local bourse, the FBM KLCI continued with its correction as profit-taking activities persisted.

“The index had lost 25 points since hitting a high above 1,600 at end-August and we reckon it to be under some pressure today amid the heightened volatility amongst the regional markets,” it said.

The research firm said it therefore expected the benchmark index to consolidate further and trend around the 1,570-1,580 range today.

Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 303 to 196, while 361 counters were unchanged, 1,398 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 528.99 million units worth RM238.53 million.

Among the market heavyweights, Maybank and Maxis rose two sen each to RM8.31 and RM4.68, respectively, and Public Bank added three sen to RM4.05 while Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga Nasional went down two sen each to RM7.93 and RM10.28, respectively.

Of the actives, KNM decreased 2.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Tanco bagged one sen to 24.5 sen, and Emico increased three sen to 43 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index eased 31.77 points to 11,491.04, the FBMT 100 Index was 29.84 points lower at 11,182.48, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 26.57 points to 12,587.63.

The FBM 70 inched up 0.2 of-a-point to 15,044.13 while the FBM ACE rose 15.48 points to 7,270.58.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index dipped 21.16 points to 6,583.06, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.39 of-a-point to 200.51, and the Financial Services Index slipped 24.81 points to 15,365.36. — Bernama