Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower Tracking Weaker Wall Street
By Abdul Hamid A Rahman
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Monday, tracking Wall Street’s weaker performance at the end of last week.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.04 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,634.77 from last Friday’s close of 1,637.81.
The index had opened 2.73 points lower at 1,635.08.
On the broader market, 222 losers outpaced 92 gainers. Another 275 counters were unchanged, 2,174 untraded, and 11 suspended.
Turnover stood at 115.70 million shares worth RM58.16 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended broadly lower as traders rotated out of technology-related stocks into those with more attractive value propositions.
“Meanwhile, the US 10-year Treasury yield edged higher to 4.186 per cent, nearing its pre-rate cut level, which added to market caution,” he told Bernama.
On the domestic front, Thong noted that the FBM KLCI surprisingly sustained its uptrend to close around the 1,640 level last week, likely supported by net buying from local institutions.
“As advocated, the ringgit hovering around 4.09 against the US dollar remains a positive catalyst. Nevertheless, we expect the index to trend within the 1,630-1,645 range today,” he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM10.34, while Public Bank and CIMB Group slipped one sen each to RM4.46 and RM7.89, respectively. Tenaga Nasional eased two sen to RM13.00, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM8.61.
On the most active list, Sentoria Group added half-a-sen to 25 sen, Orkim advanced 6.5 sen to RM1.02, Velesto Energy expanded half-a-sen to 28.5 sen, EWI Capital slipped 1.5 sen to 22 sen, and VS Industry shed 1.5 sen to 52.5 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle, which climbed 70 sen to RM114.00, Hong Leong Financial Group added 16 sen to RM18.36, Malayan Cement gained 10 sen to RM6.89, EP Manufacturing jumped 5.5 sen to 47 sen, and Hume Cement rose five sen to RM3.04.
Among the top losers, SHH Resources plunged 23 sen to 88 sen, Hong Leong Bank fell 20 sen to RM21.50, Paragon Union slid eight sen to RM3.45, SD Guthrie declined seven sen to RM5.32, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased six sen to RM19.44.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 22.91 points to 12,051.06, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 25.18 points to 11,884.02, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 22.68 points to 11,840.62, the FBM ACE Index declined 15.21 points to 4,742.98, and the FBM 70 Index retreated 34.9 points to 16,701.74.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index edged down 11.43 points to 19,210.27, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.27 of-a-point to 168.90, the Plantation Index fell 30.99 points to 8,120.28, while the Energy Index added 0.57 of-a-point to 768.36.
-- BERNAMA