By Sharifah Pirdaus Syed Ali
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, retreated from its rebound last Friday to open lower on Monday, taking its cue from Wall Street’s weaker performance.
Dealers said traders are cautious ahead of China’s rate decision and the United States (US) Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming testimony, waiting for clues on the market direction.
At 9.07 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.67 points to 1,380.94 from 1,388.61 at last Friday’s close.
The key index opened 4.72 points lower at 1,383.89.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 171 to 133, while 242 counters were unchanged, 1,747 untraded and 25 others suspended.
Turnover was 130.70 million units worth RM68.30 million (US$1 = RM4.62).
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI notched higher last Friday amidst the FTSE’s rebalancing activities, as optimism increased in the local and regional markets following a pause in the US rate hike campaign on Friday.
The brokerage firm said bargain-hunting activities are likely to emerge today, although the upside may be capped with investors keeping an eye on Malaysia’s inflation reading this week.
“Meanwhile, we deem the decline on Wall Street as a healthy pullback following its recent gains,” it told Bernama.
On commodities, it noted that the Brent crude oil price rose above US$76, while the crude palm oil price jumped above RM3,600.
“Sector-wise, the energy and plantation sectors may shine as commodity prices charged higher, while technology stocks may continue to climb on the back of the positive outlook on artificial intelligence technology.
“The aviation and travel-related sectors may also gain traction amid the normalisation of economic activities,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added one sen to RM3.88, Tenaga Nasional fell nine sen to RM9.11 and IHH Healthcare shed seven sen to RM5.89, while Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM8.57 and RM4.98, respectively.
Of the actives, Boustead Plantation gained 5.5 sen to 94.5 sen and Meta Bright edged up half-a-sen to 17 sen, while Destini and Top Glove slid one sen each to 10.5 sen and 96.5 sen respectively, KNM eased half-a-sen to eight sen and Sarawak Consolidated was flat at 40.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 47.25 points lower at 10,200.37, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 47.27 points to 9,897.09, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 72.76 points to 10,539.02, the FBM 70 Index declined 32.48 points to 13,552.23, and the FBM ACE Index shed 8.69 points to 5,117.07.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index eased 8.51 points to 785.38 and the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 1.88 points to 158.91, while the Financial Services Index improved 7.78 points to 15,181.10 and the Plantation Index increased 20.12 points to 6,668.66.
— NNN-BERNAMA