KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher but retreated thereafter as traders were still weighing on the United States Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation amidst mixed regional markets sentiment, a dealer said.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched down 0.83 of-a-point to 1,493.90 from Thursday’s close of 1,494.73.
The benchmark index opened 1.02 points firmer at 1,495.75.
However, on the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 142 to 88, while 176 counters were unchanged, 1,899 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover stood at 76.19 million units worth RM37.30 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said the broad-based sentiment is expected to remain lacklustre, although buying activities are likely to persist in the banking stocks today due to Bank Negara Malaysia’s Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) hike.
The central bank has increased the OPR by 25 basis points to 2.50 per cent at its fifth Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday.
Therefore, Thong expects the index to possibly trend within a tight range of between 1,490 and 1,500 today, noting that the plantation sector may face some headwinds as the crude palm oil price continued to slide down due to weaker demand and high inventory level.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB, Axiata and Maxis added one sen each to RM5.41, RM2.93 and RM3.83, respectively, and Press Metal gained three sen to RM5.05, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.64.
Of the actives, Metronic Global was unchanged at 4.5 sen, Tanco rose 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Mi Technovation increased seven sen to RM1.20 and HB Global improved half-a-sen to 14 sen, while Vinvest Capital lost half-a-sen to 19.5 sen. On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 1.55 points lower at 10,612.35, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 2.59 points to 10,361.08 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 6.60 points to 10,697.77, while the FBM 70 expanded 9.78 points to 12,754.88 and the FBM ACE was 3.20 points stronger at 4,805.30.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 25.73 points weaker at 6,997.47, while the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.50 of-a-point to 185.83, the Energy Index rose 1.15 points to 707.65 and the Financial Services Index ticked up 3.61 points to 16,738.67. — Bernama
