Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower, Dragged By Wall Street Weakness
By Danni Haizal Danial Donald
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Wednesday, tracking weak Wall Street cues as investor sentiment remained cautious over the prolonged US government shutdown.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.83 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 1,623.20, after closing at 1,630.03 on Tuesday.
The benchmark had opened 1.88 points lower at 1,628.15.
Market breadth was negative, with 219 decliners against 121 gainers. A total of 284 counters were unchanged, 1,960 untraded, and eight suspended.
Turnover stood at 167.20 million units, valued at RM78.31 million.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist, Mohd Sedek Jantan, said the downtrend on Wall Street shows the equity market is becoming uneasy, as investors question how long the US government shutdown will continue.
“This growing concern may weigh on Asian markets today, and we expect markets to open lower as a result. For context, the longest US government shutdown in history lasted 35 days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019,” he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM9.96, while Public Bank slipped two sen to RM4.34, CIMB Group lost four sen to RM7.63, IHH Healthcare dipped 1.5 sen to RM8.04, and Tenaga Nasional remained unchanged at RM13.28.
In active trading, KNM Group and TWL were flat at 0.5 sen and three sen, respectively. Pharmaniaga, Tanco, and Land & General rose 0.5 sen each to 29 sen, 86.5 sen, and 16 sen.
Top gainers included Kuala Lumpur Kepong, up 20 sen to RM20.50; Cahya Mata Sarawak, seven sen higher at RM1.22; UWC, up six sen to RM4.21; Life Water, rising 5.5 sen to RM1.05; and Malayan Cement, up five sen to RM6.78.
Besides IHH Healthcare, other top losers were Malaysian Pacific Industries, down 22 sen to RM31.26; United Plantations, 10 sen lower at RM23.42; Gamuda, nine sen lower at RM10.38; and YTL Power, down eight sen to RM4.13.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 44.56 points to 12,082.76, the FBM 100 Index declined 45.74 points to 11,814.11, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 40.57 points to 12,092.77.
The FBM 70 Index narrowed 48.38 points to 16,917.22, while the FBM ACE Index lost 22.61 points to 5,288.80.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.16 of a point to 173.43, the Financial Services Index slid 95.34 points to 18,476.61, while the Energy Index gained 1.40 points to 781.97, and the Plantation Index rose 4.40 points to 7,798.25.
-- BERNAMA