BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS LOWER AFTER MIXED WALL STREET PERFORMANCE

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia began the trading day on Friday lower, following a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, as overall sentiment was buoyed by signs that the Federal Reserve will adjust interest rates in September.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.93 points to 1,620.19 from Thursday's close of 1,623.12. The index opened 0.39 of-a-point lower at 1,622.73.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 274 to 144, with 303 counters unchanged, 1,746 untraded and 25 suspended. Turnover totalled 194.08 million units worth RM82.11 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed mixed as traders rotated out of mega tech companies following June’s tame consumer price index figure and the high likelihood of a rate cut in September.

“We reckon buying interest may be gaining momentum as daily traded volume surpassed the five billion shares level. 

"As such, we believe the index will hover between the 1,620-1,630 range today,” he told Bernama.

Bursa Malaysia heavyweights were mostly in negative territory except for Petronas Chemicals, MISC, Sunway, Axiata and KLK.

Maybank dropped four sen to RM10.02, Tenaga Nasional fell eight sen to RM14.52, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.11, and CIMB shed two sen to RM7.07. IHH was flat at RM6.34.

Among the most active counters, Nova and Astro decreased two sen each to 18 sen and 29 sen respectively, while Aneka Jaringan rose two sen to 20.5 sen. G3 Global and Hubline were flat at 3.5 sen and 7.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 27.59 points to 12,554.73, the FBMT 100 Index shaved 26.71 points to 12,128.59, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 21.11 points to 12,942.58, the FBM 70 Index slipped 58.65 points to 18,735.67 and the FBM ACE Index depreciated 9.04 points to 5,932.95.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 47.68 points to 17,746.38, while the Industrial Products and Services Index was flat at 201.03. The Energy Index inched up 0.19 of-a-point to 984.52, and the Plantation Index rose 1.77 points to 6,955.94.

-- BERNAMA