Bursa Malaysia opens mixed
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened mixed this morning amid cautious trading and ahead of the 14th General Elections.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.45 of a point better at 1,837.7 from last Friday's 1,837.01, and after opening 0.67 of a point higher at 1,837.68.
Contributing 1.007 points, gains in Petronas Chemicals helped lift the key index into positive territory. The stock rose seven sen to RM8.27.
However, on the broader side losers led gainers 148 to 92, while 139 counters were unchanged, 1,490 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Volume stood at 80.17 million units valued at RM31.51 million.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced the dissolution of Parliament with the general elections to be held within 60 days.
In a note, MaybankIB Research said Malaysian equities are expected to trade with a cautious bias in the lead-up to polling day, amid external volatilities arising from US-China trade tensions.
"We expect the market to trade with a cautious bias in the lead-up to polling day over uncertainties in the GE14 outcome.
"In addition, external volatilities arising from US-China trade tension add onto the risk for long-term positioning in the lead-up to polling date," the research firm said.
It said the apolitical sectors include consumer, healthcare, airlines, shipping and ports, gloves, technology (NT), petrochemicals (NT), and M-REITs (NT).
"We maintain our end-2018 KLCI target of 1,880 for now," it added.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga chalked up eight sen to RM15.82, Public Bank gained two sen to RM23.96, while IHH Healthcare was unchanged at RM6.05.
Maybank eased two sen to RM10.46 and CIMB lost three sen to RM7.03.
For actives, both Borneo Oil and Sapura Energy inched down half-a-sen each to 7.5 sen and 49.5 sen respectively, while UMW Oil & Gas slipped one sen to 22.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 2.74 points easier at 12,773.52, the FBMT 100 Index shed 0.62 of a point to 12,620.28, the FBM 70 fell 13.75 points to 15,154.16 and the FBM Ace decreased 11.95 points to 5,027.7.
However, the FBM Emas Syariah Index added 4.68 points to 12,898.39.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index eased 2.95 points to 17,965.97, the Plantation Index weakened 19.34 points to 7,897.41, but the Industrial Index gained 5.33 points to 3,203.83.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM159.95 per gramme, up 53 sen from RM159.42 at 5.00pm last Friday. — Bernama