KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, continued its downtrend to open slightly lower today despite a recovery in selected heavyweights which have limited the losses.
At 9.25 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 0.23 of-a-point to 1,418.77 from 1,419.00 at yesterday’s close.
The barometer index opened 0.68 of-a-point weaker at 1,418.32.
The broader market saw decliners surpassing advancers 200 to 171, while 280 counters were unchanged, 1,608 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 292.07 million units worth RM131.07 million (US$1 = RM4.56).
In a note Tuesday, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that with the resumption of debt ceiling talks in the United States (US), the market sentiment is expected to improve at least for the near term.
“Also, the FBM KLCI rebalancing activities will be commencing soon and may impact the volatility of the heavyweights.
“Commodities wise, Brent crude oil stayed above the US$75 per barrel mark, while the crude palm oil price is hovering around RM3,400 per tonne. The price of gold remains below US$2,000 per ounce,” it said.
Malacca Securities said investors will be slightly positive on the resumption of debt talks and may focus on the beaten down banking stocks Tuesday.
“Meanwhile, we like the energy, telecom and utilities sector ahead of the release of quarterly results. Also, we think aviation stocks may trade higher after AirAsia X (AAX) managed to raise funds,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 7.0 sen to RM8.65, Petronas Chemicals edged up 5.0 sen to RM7.01, while Tenaga Nasional and CIMB Group each decreased 4.0 sen to RM9.56 and RM5.01.
Public Bank, however, was flat at RM3.95.
As for the active counters, Revenue Group and Bahvest Resources increased half-a-sen each to 30.5 sen and 16.0 sen, Pharmaniaga perked 4.0 sen to 39.0 sen, and Autocount Dotcom earned 1.0 sen to 68.0 sen while Tanco was flat at 52.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shaved 0.72 of-a-point to 10,415.15, the FBMT 100 Index declined 0.67 of-a-point to 10,113.79, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 7.89 points to 10,781.27 and the FBM 70 Index put on 3.14 points to 13,623.83, while the FBM ACE Index went down 30.76 points to 4,924.77.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 0.35 of-a-point to 165.43, the Financial Services Index rose 13.57 points to 15,502.20, the Plantation Index reduced 26.56 points to 7,001.73 and the Energy Index contracted 2.87 points to 839.06.
— NNN-BERNAMA
