KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday's gains to open lower on profit taking, drawing the cue from choppy trading on Wall Street.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 12.47 points to 1,557.63 from Tuesday’s close of 1,570.10.
The benchmark index opened 6.70 points weaker at 1,563.40.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 201 to 171, while 238 counters were unchanged, 1,633 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 250.57 million units worth RM162.12 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the US equities slumped over fears of inflation and slower economic growth as the world was already grappling with a food crisis.
The Dow Jones Index Average lost 223 points while the Nasdaq declined by almost 50 points.
On the back of such backdrop, the US 10-year yield closed higher at the 2.85 per cent mark.
As for the local bourse, he said a sudden surge in foreign buying saw the FBM KLCI closed higher after being in negative territory for most of the day.
“However, we reckon some profit-taking activities may set in and expect the index to trend within the 1,560-1,575 range today,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Thong said crude palm oil price declined to around the RM6,600 per tonne in line with the weaker soybean price but crude oil prices maintained its uptrend with Brent crude inching closer to the US$113 per barrel level following the partial ban on Russian oil by the European Union.
Among the heavyweights, both Maybank and Petronas Chemicals lost 10 sen to RM9.0 and RM10.16, respectively, Public Bank fell 8.0 sen to RM4.65, IHH Healthcare slid 9.0 sen to RM6.61 and CIMB decreased 2.0 sen to 5.13.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy slipped 1.0 sen to 7.5 sen, while Serba Dinamik added 2.0 sen to 12 sen, Genting rose 28 sen to RM5.03, WZ Satu gained 1.0 sen to 22 sen, and Focus Dynamics was flat at 3.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE dropped 0.86 of-a-point to 5,184.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index down 60.80 points to 11,448.83, the FBM Emas Index declined 68.71 points to 11,083.19, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 71.59 points to 10,786.92, and the FBM 70 weakened 27.52 points to 13,211.60.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.86 points weaker at 201.35, the Plantation Index dipped 31.25 points to 7,932.73, and the Financial Services Index dropped 166.80 points to 16,743.89. — Bernama
