Bursa Malaysia opens mixed

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today, in line with regional market sentiment as mild profit taking emerged in heavyweights after yesterday's gains, dealers said.
At 9.20am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,826.47, up 0.56 of-a-point, from yesterday's close of 1,825.91, while opening 1.77 points better at 1,827.68.
Overall market breadth was negative with losers beating gainers 263 to 176, while 278 counters were unchanged, 1,106 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 901.75 million shares worth RM205.74 million.
Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB) expects the FBM KLCI to extend gains to today, while likely to trade between 1,815 and 1,830 points, with downside support at between 1,812 and 1,793 points.
"With the ringgit still going strong, there will be continued interest in importers, particularly automakers. For the time being, we believe the benchmark index will head into a consolidation mode," it said in a research note today.
Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped two sen to RM9.83, while TNB added two sen to RM15.84, Public Bank went up four sen to RM20.92 and Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM8.21.
Of the actives, Sumatec rose two sen to 12.5 sen, Perisai Petroleum advanced 1.5 sen to 6.5 sen, while Vizione was flat at 19 sen and NETX Holdings eased half-a-sen to four sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 0.79 of-a-point lower at 13,203.51, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 0.66 of-a-point to 12,846.65 and the FBM 70 declined 16.48 points to 16,463.22.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 3.47 points to 13,656.62 and the FBM Ace eased 16.48 points to 6,463.22.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index shed 2.58 points to 17,208.08 and the Plantation Index dipped 2.98 points to 8,121.45, while the Industrial Index was down 13.99 points to 3,380.07.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM164.93 per gramme, down five sen from RM164.98 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama