Bursa opens lower, taking cue from choppy Wall Street trading

KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday’s gains to open lower on profit-taking, taking cue from choppy trading on Wall Street, said an analyst.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 3.85 points to 1425.69 from yesterday’s close of 1,429.54.

The benchmark index opened 0.85 of-a-point weaker at 1,428.69.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 183 to 72, while 188 counters were unchanged, 1,846 untraded and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 164.30 million units worth RM54.05 million.

The ringgit was traded lower today, taking cue from deteriorating global sentiment amid the recession risk in the US and the energy crisis in Europe.

At 10.22am, the local currency fell to 4.4555/4580 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4520/4550.

SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said weaker sentiment is expected to dominate this week’s trading especially with the US Federal Reserve in the blackout period.

“There will be no guidance from the Fed, which will influence the currency trading. Apart from that, the rise in the subvariant Covid-19 cases in Asia is a worry especially in China given its zero-Covid-19 policy and it hurts other currencies tied to the yuan, including the ringgit,” he said.

Innes said other factors such as the European Central Bank meeting and the European energy crisis would further dampen risk appetite. – Bernama, July 19, 2022