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KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia stayed in negative territory at mid-morning on profit taking following yesterday’s gains, amidst a mixed regional market.
At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 5.62 points to 1,591.06 from yesterday’s close of 1,596.68.
The index opened 5.03 points weaker at 1,591.65.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 596 to 216 while 346 counters were unchanged, 1,133 untraded and 43 others suspended.
Total turnover stood at 885.04 million units worth RM579.81 million.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it anticipates a further downside risk on the local bourse following the steep slide on Wall Street overnight, especially within the technology sector.
“Meanwhile, investors may position themselves in companies with solid earnings prospects ahead of the earnings season,” the brokerage said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 6 sen to RM9.01, Public Bank gained 2 sen to RM4.74, while Petronas Chemicals lost 22 sen to RM10, IHH Healthcare slid 1 sen to RM6.64, and CIMB dropped 4 sen to RM5.15.
Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange eased 1 sen to RM1.01, Widad, Techna-X and Cheetah were flat at 36 sen, 11 sen and 17.5 sen respectively, while Permaju increased 0.5 sen to 9 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 50.02 points weaker at 11,371.10, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 87.0 points to 11,907.36, the FBM 70 dropped 75.97 points to 13,572.14, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 44.24 points to 11,032.89, and the FBM ACE lost 98.40 points to 5,520.01.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 2.76 points to 207.37, the Plantation Index went down 78.22 points to 8,710.24, while the Financial Services Index accumulated 16.28 points to 16,850.78.
Meanwhile, this morning the ringgit retreated from yesterday’s gains to open slightly lower against the US dollar today on renewed concerns about the global economic outlook, said an analyst.
At 9am, the local note stood at 4.3555/3585 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.3545/3570.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the series of corporate earnings announcements for the first quarter has been mixed, suggesting a challenging outlook as companies need to contend with rising business costs, especially for raw material and labour.
“The geopolitical situation has been unsettling with Russia expected to halt their gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria.
“Lockdown fears are also looming in Beijing as it started its mass testing requirement due to rising Covid-19 cases,” he said.
Afzanizam said the external front has been unfriendly to emerging market currencies as market participants are anticipated to seek shelter against safe-haven currencies such as the US dollar and Japanese yen.
“As such, the ringgit should linger around its resistant level of RM4.36 today,” he added.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note slid versus the yen to 3.4142/4168 from yesterday’s close of 3.4065/4087 but rose against the euro to 4.6356/6388 from 4.6532/6559.
It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1584/1609 from yesterday’s close of 3.1697/1720 and increased vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.4797/4834 from 5.5359/5391. – Bernama, April 27, 2022