KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Bursa Malaysia opened mixed in early trade today, with the key index rising by a marginal 0.05 per cent amid weak sentiment across the broader market.
At 9.25am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 0.83 of-a-point to 1,528.58 from 1,527.75 at Thursday’s close after opening 1.06 point higher at 1,528.81.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 295 to 159, while 269 counters were unchanged, 1,512 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 426.06 million units worth RM196.79 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a research note, believes investors might still be jittery in anticipation of an interest rate hike environment, as well as due to concerns over the still-spiking Covid-19 cases.
“Hence, the negative sentiment may spillover to stocks on the local front, and profit-taking activities on technology counters may emerge,” the brokerage said in a research note.
On the commodity markets, crude palm oil price continued to trend above its all-time high, while crude oil price hovered above the US$88 per barrel mark.
“We remain positive in the energy and plantation stocks as commodity prices sustained. Meanwhile, we believe technology may turn lower on the back of profit-taking activities, while we expect the building material segment to gain traction as metals rally heats up,” said Malacca Securities.
Of the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals soared 13 sen to RM9.08, CIMB gained two sen to RM5.27, TNB added one sen to RM9.08, Press Metal increased seven sen to RM6.19, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.17 and RM6.55, respectively, while Maybank eased one sen to RM8.27 and Hong Leong Bank trimmed 18 sen to RM19.16.
Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange advanced two sen to 98.5 sen, G3, Ageson and Talam Transform were flat at eight sen, 2.5 sen and two sen, respectively, while Aurelius shed five sen to RM2.02.
On the index board, the FBM ACE rose 2.27 points to 6,163.40, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 12.23 points to 11,690.12, the FBM 70 discounted 77.91 points to 13,487.39, the FBM Emas Index was 11.84 points weaker at 10,968.77, and the FBMT 100 Index dipped 9.29 points to 10,675.93.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index up 1.03 point to 202.27, the Plantation Index rose 1.84 point to 6,680.83, and the Financial Services Index contracted 21.82 points to 15,757.01. — Bernama
