Bursa Malaysia opens lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower in early trade today, as weak market sentiment brought by faded hopes on US-China trade deal weighed on interest for equities.

At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.22 points to 1,593.92 from 1,601.14 recorded at Wednesday’s close.

At the opening bell, the barometer index was 0.22 of-a-point better at 1,601.36.

On the broader market, gainers and losers almost equal 133 to 134, while 201 counters unchanged, 1,550 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 182.69 million shares worth RM95.87 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the generally mixed market conditions look to persist as market players seek fresh leads for a new direction after the recent gains have left Malaysian equities overbought.

Despite yesterday’s pullback, conditions are still largely on the toppish side as the consolidation has been mild, even as the optimism over the US-China trade talks ebbed and geopolitical concerns have risen with Washington siding with the Hong Kong protestors that is drawing the ire of China.

“This leads us to think that the sideway consolidation is still unfolding with the key index attempting to build up a base around the 1,590-1,610 levels.

“The ongoing corporate results reporting season continues to see mixed earnings performance and these results are the near term market leads,” the research firm said in a note today.

It also said the downside risk has also risen over the near term, which could send the key index lower to the 1,590-1,596 levels, which Malacca Securities consider as still a holding pattern for now.

Apart from the 1,610 resistance, the other resistance is at the 1,620 level, it said.

On the lower liners and broader market shares, Malacca Securities said they would be firming up as following on these stocks are picking up on rotational plays.

“Nevertheless, with their conditions also toppish, we think that the near term upsides will be limited amid increased profit-taking activities,” it added.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased three sen to RM8.64, Tenaga trimmed six sen to RM13.60, Public Bank lost 18 sen to RM19.74, Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM7.20, CIMB shed five sen to RM5.33, while IHH eased four sen to RM5.40.

Of the actives, KNM slid two sen to 39 sen, MyEG bagged four sen to RM1.21, Alam Maritim and Icon Offshore inched up half-a-sen each to 13.5 sen and five sen respectively, while Bumi Armada was flat at 54.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 36.35 points lower at 11,330.11, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 37.6 points to 11,137.9, the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 27.77 points to 11,870.14 and the FBM Ace trimmed 6.36 points to 4,937.09.

However, the FBM 70 gained 4.89 points to 14,184.44.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 66.65 points to 15,575.4, the Industrial Products & Services Index slipped 0.03 of-a-point to 152.17, while the Plantation Index gained 6.69 points to 7,089.78.

The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM191.34 per gramme, up 11 sen from RM191.23 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/bursa-malaysia-opens-lower-LC1631841