Bursa Malaysia opens easier
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower today amid mixed trading sentiment, coupled with external factors as investors closely monitored political developments in West Asia after Saudi Arabia's recent crackdown on corruption, dealers said.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.67 points lower at 1,742.53 from yesterday's close of 1,744.20.
The key index opened 0.47 of-a-point easier at 1,743.73.
On the broader market, there were 95 gainers, 77 losers, 190 counters remained unchanged, 1,463 untraded and 21 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 126.68 million shares worth RM30.82 million.
A dealer said the FBM KLCI would continue to be choppy in the near term due to lack of market catalysts.
"A better oil price above US$60 (US$1 = RM4.22) and decent corporate earnings should lend support to the local bourse. The market, however, lacks catalysts to drive shares higher," he said, adding that the FBM KLCI would likely trade below the 1,744.09 level for today.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank erased two sen to RM9.13, Pertronas Chemicals eased five sen to RM7.42, CIMB declined two sen to RM6.16, Tenaga and Public Bank added two sen each to RM14.92 and RM20.48, respectively while Maxis was flat at RM6.01.
Among active counters, ATTA-PR and Sumatec were flat at half-a-sen and five sen, respectively, Hubline and CSL fell half-a-sen to 13 sen and 4.5 sen respectively and Malayan United Industries increased half-a-sen to 25 sen.
The FBM Emas Index decreased 10.00 points to 12,57.046, FBMT 100 Index was 10.12 points lower at 12,208.84, FBM 70 decreased seven points to 15,493.31 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 5.68 points to 13,028.25.
The FBM Ace rose 9.63 points to 6,820.04.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 1.97 points lower at 7,998.94 and the Finance Index decreased 12.18 points to 16,206.38.
The Industrial Index rose 2.36 points to 3,184.73.
the physical price of gold as at 9.30 a.m stood at rm168.42 per gramme, up 29 sen from rm168.13 at 5.00 p.m yesterday. — Bernama