KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, taking cues from the negative developments on Wall Street overnight, said an analyst.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 2.29 points to 1,566.96 from Thursday’s close of 1,569.25. The benchmark index opened 1.58 points easier at 1,567.67.
On the broader market, decliners led gainers 233 to 133, while 270 counters were unchanged, 1,737 untraded and 52 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 177.94 million units worth RM82.39 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street tumbled overnight as traders were spooked by lower latest US economic growth amid persistent high inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) average declined 375 points while the Nasdaq lost 101 points with the US 10-year yield closing higher at 4.704 per cent.
“Nonetheless, stock futures rose on the back of solid earnings released by both Alphabet and Microsoft during after-hour activities,” he told Bernama.
Thong said Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index maintains its uptrend but is off the day’s high as foreign funds are raising their allocation for Chinese assets buoyed by a recent pledge from the Chinese authority to support the Hong Kong market.
“Back home, the FBM KLCI eased marginally after touching a year-to-date high due to some profit-taking activities which is deemed healthy.
“As such, we believe the local bourse may have more legs to trend higher. Hence, expect the index to hover between the 1,565-1,575 range today,” he said, adding that crude palm oil fell below RM3,900 a tonne to a two-month low in line with the drop in other edible oils.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional eased 2.0 sen to RM9.76 and RM11.84, respectively, Public Bank slid 1.0 sen to RM4.22, CIMB lost 3.0 sen to RM6.65 and IHH Healthcare went down 5.0 sen to RM6.20.
As for the actives, ATA IMS went up 1.0 sen to 29.5 sen, Notion VTEC inched up half-a-sen to 59 sen, Ekovest and Alpha IVF shed half-a-sen to 44.5 sen and 32.5 sen, respectively, while Minetech Resources was flat at 15 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 20.99 points lower at 11,759.99, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 20.82 points to 11,397.65 and the FBM 70 Index reduced 47.07 points higher at 16,308.23, the FBM ACE Index erased 6.04 points to 5,008.97, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 27.0 points to 11,924.37.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 39.71 points to 17,324.24, the Energy Index trimmed 4.40 points to 967.0, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.47 of-a-point to 186.09, and the Plantation Index shaved 35.44 points to 7,390.61. — Bernama
