KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today as investors remain cautious, taking the cue from overnight performance on Wall Street amid mixed performance in regional peers, a dealer said.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.63 points to 1,451.11 from Friday’s close of 1,456.74.
The benchmark index opened 2.34 points lower at 1,454.40.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 179 to 92, while 200 counters were unchanged, 1,813 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 188.42 million units worth RM81.12 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said some bargain-hunting activities would emerge in view of reasonable valuations of the index hovering at the moment.
He said Wall Street closed mixed on concerns that the US economy may face a slowdown after several economic data fell short of expectations.
“Therefore, we believe the local bourse may see some upside today and we anticipate it to trend between 1,450 and 1,470 today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost 15 sen to RM8.73, Public Bank inched down by one sen to RM4.48, Petronas Chemicals contracted two sen to RM9.50, IHH Healthcare slid six sen to RM6.22, while CIMB was unchanged at RM4.92.
Of the actives, SFP Tech added 34.5 sen to 64.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange and LKL International lost 1.5 sen to 79.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, MQ Technology shed half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, while KNM Group stayed at 13.5 sen.
On the index board, FBM Emas Index depreciated 35.78 points to 10,362.09, FBM Emas Shariah Index narrowed 21.74 points to 10,504.75, FBM 70 slid 32.55 points to 12,581.86, FBM ACE contracted 27.37 points to 4,806.61, and FBMT 100 Index fell 36.08 points to 10,100.93.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 101.68 points to 16,204.15, the Plantation Index lost 34.16 points to 7,184.07, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.89 of-a-point lower at 185.42. — Bernama
