KL shares open lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning on the back of Wall Street's meagre performance, coupled with global market participants' reluctance amid a trade uncertainty environment, dealers said.
At 9.02am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,843.48, declining 1.79 points from 1,845.27 at Thursday's close.
The key index opened 1.79 points easier at 1,843.48.
PublicInvest Research said traders were on a cautious note after the S&P 500 fell for the fourth day in a row as worries about a global trade continued to cast a shadow over the market.
"Participants are also digesting news of television pundit Larry Kudlow's appointment as US President Donald Trump's Chief Economic Adviser," it said in a note.
Meanwhile, Oanda Head of Trading Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes told Bernama that the recent flow of headlines, especially those focused on trade were creating an air of uncertainty, fuelling anxiety among investors to experience "fear gauge" (market volatility index).
"Whether its an escalation of a trade war or leeriness after news that US Special Counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed more documents from the Trump organisation, there's always some prattle coming out of Washington these days that continues to cast a dark cloud over the markets," said Innes.
On the local front, market breadth was however positive with 112 gainers against 77 losers, while 192 counters were unchanged, 1,513 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 104.66 million shares worth RM38.88 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank declined 10 sen to RM10.26, Tenaga decreased four sen to RM15.62, CIMB trimmed one sen to RM7.21 and Petronas Chemicals decreased five sen to RM8.10.
Meanwhile, Axiata rose four sen to RM5.24 and Maxis improved three sen to RM5.67.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy declined half-a-sen to 48.5 sen, while SKH Consortium rose half-a-sen to nine sen and Advance Synergy was up one sen to 18.5 sen.
Meanwhile, YFG and UMW Oil & Gas Corp was flat at half-a-sen and 32 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index trimmed 5.17 points to 13,020.14, the FBMT 100 Index was 6.54 points lower at 12,764.8 but the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 9.41 points to 13,195.98.
The FBM 70 rose 15.81 points to 15,685.97 and the FBM Ace was 0.27 of-a-point stronger at 5,896.28.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index contracted 44.29 points to 17,972.56, the Industrial Index inched down 6.08 points to 3,241.95, and the Plantation Index decreased 21.47 points to 8,017.18.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM160.48 per gramme, down 68 sen from RM161.16 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama