KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia reversed from its gains yesterday to open lower this morning due to profit taking, taking its cue from the choppy trading on Wall Street.
At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 1.40 points to 1,482.57 from Tuesday’s close of 1,483.97.
The key index opened 1.17 points weaker at 1,482.80.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 145 to 129, while 193 counters were unchanged, 1,746 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 152.78 million units worth RM53.62 million.
In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the United States stock markets edged lower yesterday, with the Dow Jones Index easing by 0.5 per cent due to the hotter-than-expected inflation data that came in at 6.4 per cent in January 2023 — triggering further concerns that the path of normalising inflation will be bumpy.
The brokerage also believes that the global sentiment will remain tepid, at least for the near term while waiting for fresh catalysts.
Back home, investors may continue to focus on the earnings reporting season as well as the re-tabling of Budget 2023.
As for commodities, oil benchmark Brent crude stayed above US$85 per barrel, while the crude palm oil price hovered above RM3,900 per tonne.
“Meanwhile, the construction and building material sector may gain traction ahead of the re-tabling of Budget 2023 next week.
“Additionally, the electrical vehicle (EV)-related sector may shine following the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s announcement of its target to provide up to 4,000 EV charging points in Malaysia,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.80 and RM5.90, respectively, Public Bank rose 1.0 sen to RM4.20 and CIMB added 4.0 sen to RM5.45, while Petronas Chemicals lost 3.0 sen to RM8.12.
As for the actives, both Hong Seng and Dataprep gained half-a-sen to 21.5 sen and 24 sen, respectively, Trive Property increased by 1.0 sen to 8.0 sen and Kim Teck went up 2.5 sen to 26.5 sen, while PUC was flat at 3.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 3.81 points to 10,783.94, the FBMT 100 Index went down 4.53 points to 10,452.88, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 19.17 points to 11,092.71.
The FBM 70 Index advanced 16.95 points to 13,592.09 and the FBM ACE Index was 10.41 points firmer at 5,702.08.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index narrowed by 4.34 points to 6,912.20 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.24 of-a-point to 189.29, while the Energy Index rose 1.35 points to 898.07 and the Financial Services Index gained 24.24 points to 16,180.74. – Bernama