KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher but turned mixed in the early session, weighed down by investors’ cautious sentiment on external development, namely on China’s demand for the United States to drop tariffs imposed on the country, said dealers.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.72 points easier to 1,605.02 against Tuesday’s close of 1,606.74.
The key index opened 2.69 points higher at 1,609.43.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 125 to 99, while 187 counters unchanged, 1,565 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 123.33 million shares worth RM54.27 million.
However, losses were cushioned by the firmer overnight US stock market as investors welcomed better-than-expected data on the services sector.
On the local front, Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd said despite Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision yesterday to retain its overnight policy rate at three %, it remained cautious about growth of the external environment in its latest assessment of the global economy.
BNM noted that the slowdown in growth is becoming more synchronised across both the advanced and emerging economies.
“We maintain our gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection of 4.7 % in 2019 supported by the sustained expansion of domestic demand.
“However, in 2020, we expect some slowing down in Malaysia’s real GDP growth to 4.5 % (4.7 % estimated for 2019),” said Affin Hwang in a research note today.
Meanwhile, on Bursa’s performance, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd’s (MSSB) opined that conditions are ripe for profit-taking which could leave the mixed-to-lower conditions intact for now.
“The lower liners and broader market shares are staying mixed-to-lower as the euphoric market conditions are waning after the recent gains that have left their respective indices overbought,” it said.
Meanwhile, heavyweight Maybank added one sen to RM8.67 but Tenaga, Petronas Chemicals and CIMB declined two sen each to RM13.98, RM7.68. and RM5.31 respectively, while Public Bank lost six sen to RM19.80.
Of the actives, Velesto Energy gained 2.5 sen to 38.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and Netx were flat each at 26.5 sen and two sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was 5.25 points lower at 11,368.48, the FBMT 100 Index declined 6.00 points to 11,180.62 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 1.64 points to 11,932.63.
The FBM Ace slipped 9.81 to 4,987.99 but the FBM 70 was 17.28 points firmer to 14,095.75.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 5.04 points to 15,640.75, the Industrial Products & Services Index edged down 0.19 of-a-point to 154.53 and the Plantation Index gave up 11.24 points to 6,876.65.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM191.14 per gramme, down RM2.01 from RM193.15 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama
source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/bursa-malaysia-turns-mixed-after-opening-higher-HJ1579900
No comments:
Post a Comment