KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Bursa Malaysia remains on a downtrend this morning amidst tepid bargain hunting activities.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 2.77 points to 1,541.94 from Monday’s close of 1,544.71.

The market bellwether opened 2.32 of-a-point lower at 1,542.39

On the broader market, losers edged past gainers 183 to 180, while 309 counters were unchanged, 1,549 untraded, and 67 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 465.73 million units valued at RM159.77 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities said it believes that bargain hunting activities should emerge after yesterday’s heavy selldown, following Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement of the RM150 billion PEMULIH stimulus package to assist households and businesses affected by the pandemic.

“Buying activities should emerge in essential consumer and utilities counters, while the rally in Nasdaq may bode well for the technology sector.

“Commodities-wise, both the crude palm oil (CPO) and oil prices experienced a pullback,” it said in a note.

The United States (US) stock markets ended on a mixed note as the Dow fell 0.4 per cent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent and Nasdaq was 1.0 per cent higher, boosted by the gains in technology shares.

Back home, heavyweights Axiata and IOI both gained four sen to RM3.84 and RM3.79, respectively.

Hartalega improved eight sen to RM7.38, while TNB and Dialog was three sen higher at RM9.88 and RM2.91, respectively.

Conversely, Petchem lost 17 sen to RM7.95, while CIMB eased five sen to RM4.56.

Of the actives, newly-listed Nestcon increased 8.5 sen to 36.5, Serba Dinamik recovered three sen to 35.5, MMAG was one sen higher at 14.5 and Tanco was flat at 15 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 9.77 points easier at 11,207.57, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 12.64 points to 10,925.33, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 3.36 points to 12,250.84.

The FBM ACE was 57.54 points better at 7,053.08 and the FBM 70 added 10.80 points to 14,484.03.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 45.52 points to 15,111.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.32 points weaker at 185.63, and the Plantation Index increased 10.68 points to 6,441.71. — Bernama