KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower today due to the lack of buying interest, despite the Wall Street’s steadier overnight performance.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.76 of-a-point to 1,569.37 from Monday’s close of 1,570.13.
It opened 0.58 of-a-point lower at 1,569.55.
However, market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 198 to 144, while 279 counters were unchanged, 1,647 untraded and six others suspended.
Turnover stood at 166.81 million units worth RM87.51 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the market may be cushioned by potential bargain hunting activities this week following the Wall Street’s positive rebound, coupled with the stability in the local political landscape after the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the federal coalition and Pakatan Harapan yesterday.
“As for the commodities, both crude palm oil and crude oil prices had advanced, while aluminium prices continue to charge higher.
“Hence, we expect bargain hunting activities to continue in the recovery theme stocks such as banking, consumer and tourism, especially in the domestic travel segments,” the research house said in a note today.
It said investors may also trade in plantation and oil and gas counters amid firmer commodity prices.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.30, Public Bank and CIMB Group were two sen lower at RM4.04 and RM4.82, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals rose three sen to RM8.02.
Of the actives, Kejuruteraan Asastera bagged one sen to 39.5 sen, DataPrep Holdings increased four sen to RM1.19, while Avillion and Tanco Holdings were flat at 15.5 sen and 23.5 sen, respectively.
Top losers include SAM Engineering which contracted 18 sen to RM14.56, followed by Genetec Technology which lost 12 sen to RM32.94 and Maxis which reduced 10 sen to RM4.66.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 2.20 points to 11,483.56, the FBMT 100 Index was 0.18 of-a-point higher at 11,172.87, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 12.53 points to 12,582.14.
The FBM 70 went up 22.03 points to 15,020.65, while the FBM ACE rose 5.00 points to 7,224.11.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index gained 8,57 points to 6,589.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.94 of-a-point to 201.58, while the Financial Services Index slipped 28.82 points to 15,344.73. — Bernama
