KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Thursday following a weak Wall Street performance overnight.
At 9.25am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.20 points to 1,413.90 from Wednesday’s close of 1,415.10. The key index opened 0.38 of a point easier at 1,414.72.
On the broader market, decliners led gainers 190 to 181, while 243 counters were unchanged, 1,748 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 218.68 million units worth RM117.78 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng expects trading on the local bourse to be lacklustre today, impacted by the surging rates in the United States.
“As such, we expect the benchmark index to trend between 1,395 and 1,420 as technology stocks may see some selling today,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB added one sen to RM5.40, TNB rose four sen to RM8.18, Maybank and Public Bank declined one sen each to RM8.54 and RM4.33, respectively, Petronas Chemicals shed five sen to RM8.58, and IHH Healthcare shaved off seven sen to RM6.03.
Of the actives, Velesto grew half-a-sen to 12 sen, Jaya Tiasa advanced 4.5 sen to 59.5 sen, Vinvest Capital was flat at 20 sen, and Top Glove trimmed two sen to 70.5 sen, while Careplus and Supermax were down by one sen each to 39.5 sen and 83.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 1.32 points easier at 10,042.65, the FBM 70 improved by 16.71 points to 11,974.33, the FBMT 100 Index decreased by 3.18 points to 9,787.54, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 2.62 points to 10,042.32, and the FBM ACE dropped 16.82 points to 4,708.13.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 7.40 points to 16,170.58, the Industrial Products and Services Index narrowed 0.83 of-a-point to 171.62, the Plantation Index was firmer by 52.32 points to 6,730.44, and the Energy Index advanced 5.90 points to 669.34. — Bernama
