.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today amid heightened regional volatility, as well as tracking the lower closing on Wall Street on Friday, dealers said.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 4.08 points to 1,522.98 from 1,527.06 at Friday’s close.
The benchmark index opened 5.34 points lower at 1,521.72.
The market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 252 to 111, while 259 counters were unchanged, 1,647 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 223.78 million units worth RM112.02 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street tumbled as funds repositioned themselves with funds flowed into bonds at the expense of equities as the 10-year yield eased to around 1.77 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 450 points while the Nasdaq declined 385 points to below the 14,000 level.
“Many believed that US equities had entered correction territory from the recent plunge.
“Fears escalated as traders are bracing for rate increase ahead of the US Federal Reserves meeting this Thursday,” he told Bernama.
On the local front, Thong reckons that the FBM KLCI may experience some headwinds and expects it to hover within the 1,520-1,535 range today.
He noted that commodity-wise, crude palm oil (CPO) closed higher at above the RM5,500 per tonne mark.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank slid five sen to RM8.23, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM4.18 and RM8.89, respectively, IHH down three sen to RM6.54, CIMB dropped seven sen to RM5.23, while Tenaga gained four sen to RM9.14.
Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange rose 1.5 sen higher to RM1.00, Coraza increase eight sen to 74 sen, and Aimflex and OCR added half-a-sen to 18 sen and 15 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM ACE up 6.59 points to 6,131.11, while the FBM Emas Index reduced 28.39 points to 10,930.86, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 27.82 points to 10,637.63, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 15.12 points to 11,646.08, and the FBM 70 lost 32.14 points to 13,442.69.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 72.26 points to 15,701.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.12 of-a-point to 200.71, and the Plantation Index narrowed 6.81 points to 6,692.47. — Bernama
