KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today amid Wall Street’s stronger performance overnight, a dealer said.
At 9.12 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.80 points to 1,433.37 from Tuesday’s closing of 1,435.17.
The index opened 0.42 points weaker at 1,434.75.
However, on the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 187 to 117, while 257 counters were unchanged, 1,781 untraded and 10 suspended.
Turnover stood at 265.52 million units worth RM99.78 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended broadly higher as traders returned as buyers, spurred by the declining yield as funds find their way into bonds which are deemed a safe haven amid the ongoing Israel/Hamas conflict.
“As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 135 points overnight while the Nasdaq added 79 points as the US 10-year yield eased to 4.657 per cent.
“In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed 147 points higher, buoyed by inflows of funds from mainland China and latest comment that the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) may potentially pause its rate adjustments in November after its recent aggressive tightening,“ he told Bernama.
Back home, he expects buying in banking counters to persist, together with the telecommunication stocks after the strong profit-taking in the past month.
“Therefore, we believe the index could scale higher and hover within the 1,435-1,445 range today in view of improving sentiments,“ he added.
Among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional increased two sen to RM9.99, while Petronas Chemicals lost four sen to RM7.26, and Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB slid one sen each to RM8.88, RM4.12 and RM5.54, respectively.
Of the actives, KNM Group inched up half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, Aco Group up four sen to 27 sen and UEM Sunrise went up one sen to 88 sen, while Sapura Energy and Kinergy Advancement were flat at five sen and 33 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 5.37 points to 10,623.91, the FBMT 100 Index went down 7.04 points to 10,287.50, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 1.04 points to 10,886.28 and the FBM ACE Index decreased 33.68 points to 5,159.83, while the FBM 70 Index rose 15.73 points to 14,152.27.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index erased 17.20 points to 16,092.48, the Energy Index was 1.07 points lower at 873.79 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.16 of-a-point to 172.67, while the Plantation Index recovered 1.16 points to 6,899.94. - Bernama