By Siti Radziah Hamzah
KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, traded weaker in the early session on Monday amid shaky market sentiments on concerns over the US banking and Credit Suisse crises.
At 9.25 am, the benchmark FBM KLCI fell 9.83 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 1,401.90 from Friday’s close of 1,411.73.
The market bellwether opened 3.55 points easier at 1,411.73.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 299 to 169 while 249 counters were unchanged, 1,545 untraded, and 16 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 536.08 million units worth RM206.08 million (US$1 = RM4.47).
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the local bourse to stay calmer on the announcement that UBS will take over Credit Suisse just this morning, although the volatility may persist following Wall Street’s retreat last Friday amid lingering concerns over the US banking turmoil and Credit Suisse crisis.
“Meanwhile, traders will monitor the US Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate decision this week,” the brokerage said in a research note Monday.
It noted that the gold-related counters may gain momentum as turmoil in the US banking sector has brought interest to gold, spurring the commodity’s price.
“Other defensive sectors such as the telecommunications, consumer staples, and healthcare sectors may shine amid the fragile sentiment in the market,” said Malacca Securities.
Bursa Malaysia heavyweights IHH Healthcare gained three sen to RM5.85, CelcomDigi was flat at RM4.05 and Maybank fell two sen to RM8.36.
Public Bank eased one sen to RM3.96, Petronas Chemicals dipped 24 sen to RM6.99, CIMB gave up five sen to RM5.17 and TNB trimmed eight sen to RM9.47.
Among the actives, Green Packet and Jade Marvel increased by 1.5 sen each to 6.5 sen and 31.5 sen, respectively.
Minda Global and BSL Corp were flat at 14.5 sen and four sen respectively, while Top Glove went down 1.5 sen to 90 sen and Zen Tech eased half-a-sen to 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index reduced by 60.85 points to 10,275.55, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed by 60.24 points to 9,968.64 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 64.23 points to 10,603.01.
The FBM 70 Index pulled down 40.51 points to 13,325.14, but the FBM ACE Index advanced 27.82 points to 5,276.76.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 65.74 points to 15,473.97, the Plantation Index was 62.71 points to 6,809.61, the Energy Index was down by 8.64 points to 814.22, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shrank 1.74 points to 168.31.
— NNN-BERNAMA