BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS LOWER

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia kicked off the week on a slightly easier note, reflecting Wall Street’s subdued performance last Friday.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 3.41 points to 1,633.14 from Friday's close of 1,636.55. The index opened 0.57 of-a-point higher at 1,637.12. 

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 355 versus 152, with 359 counters unchanged, 1,582 untraded and 16 suspended.

Turnover stood at 405.01 million units worth RM165.01 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street ended last week on a weak note as all three of its major indices slumped amidst the rotation into smaller-cap stocks.

"Although trading was not affected by the global information technology (IT) shutdown, the main culprit, Crowdstrike, tumbled 11.1 per cent.

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 377 points, while the Nasdaq declined by 144 points, with the US 10-year yield climbing to 4.24 per cent," he told Bernama.

He said that back home, despite the regional turbulence, the FBM KLCI closed at yet another year-to-date high as buying momentum remained very much intact amid some intermittent profit-taking activities.

“However, we noticed that the daily volume traded had declined significantly to below 4.5 billion shares on Friday, illustrating that the market undertone remained cautious.

"Notwithstanding the drag on Wall Street, we believe trading on the local bourse will stay positive as ongoing rotation by foreign funds may see some spillover effect into the region, including Malaysia," he said.

Thus, Thong expects the local key index to move within the 1,630-1,640 range today.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group added 2.0 sen to RM7.17, and IHH Healthcare increased by 6.0 sen to RM6.39.

Meanwhile, Tenaga Nasional fell 4.0 sen to RM14.40, Public Bank declined 1.0 sen to RM4.23, and Maybank was unchanged at RM10.10.

Among the actives, ACE Market debutant BWYS Group increased 13.5 sen to 35.5 sen, Securemetric Bhd climbed 1.5 sen to 24 sen, and Ingenieur Gudang and Aneka Jaringan Holdings gained half-a-sen each to 5.5 sen and 19.5 sen, respectively, while MY E.G. Services was unchanged at 98.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 27.18 points to 12,632.08, the FBMT 100 Index declined 25.90 points to 12,206.52, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 36.88 points to 13,000.22 and the FBM 70 Index dropped 41.17 points to 18,786.84, while the FBM ACE Index gained 14.13 points to 5,948.34.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 3.33 points to 17,976.11 and the Healthcare Index gained 1.85 points to 2,182.79, while the Construction Index eased 0.51 of-a-point to 314.19, and the Plantation Index fell 3.52 points to 7,221.33.

-- BERNAMA