By Karina Imran
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, opened slightly higher Friday but retreated within minutes, taking its cue from the Wall Street which tumbled overnight on concerns over more rate hikes by the United States Federal Reserve, said an analyst.
At 9.15 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 0.33 per cent or 4.86 points to 1,463.49 from Thursday’s closing of 1,468.35.
The market bellwether opened 0.81 points better at 1,469.16.
On a broader market, decliners surpassed advancers 250 versus 116, while 212 counters were unchanged, 1,691 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 251.54 million units worth RM110.07 million (US$1=RM4.43).
According to news reports, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 348.99 points, the S&P 500 lost 56.05 points and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 233.25 points.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said back home, the FBM KLCI closed positively on Thursday as bargain hunting emerged despite the market undertone remaining jittery.
“Persistent selling by foreign funds has been rather surprising so far this month with a net outflow of around RM1.34 billion, despite the improving political climate domestically.
“We reckon that sentiment will remain cautious following news that China may see a spike in COVID-19 cases,” he told Bernama.
Hence, he expects the index to possibly hover in the 1,460-1,470 range Friday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased by one sen to RM8.70, Petronas Chemicals reduced 11 sen to RM8.29 and CIMB slid by two sen to RM5.76, while both Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.40 and RM6.00, respectively.
Of the actives, Careplus added 2.5 sen to 45 sen, Microlink Solutions gained 4.5 sen to RM1.00, Top Glove ticked up two sen to 77.5 sen, Artroniq grew by 1.5 sen to 64 sen and Advance Synergy was flat at 18 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 28.99 points to 10,510.91, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 34.58 points lower at 10,615.09, the FBM 70 Index slipped 14.47 points to 12,870.41, the FBM ACE Index decreased 27.21 points to 5,474.44 and the FBMT 100 Index went down 28.91 points to 10,220.76.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 7.06 points lower at 774.77, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.17 points to 177.33 and the Financial Services Index lost 21.34 points to 16,530.17.
However, the Plantation Index earned 5.70 points to 6,827.70.
— NNN-BERNAMA
