BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS WEAKER IN LINE WITH OVERNIGHT WALL STREET

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened weaker this morning, influenced by the downbeat performance on Wall Street overnight, according to an analyst.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 10.03 points lower to 1,611.11 from Wednesday's close of 1,621.14. The index opened 4.06 points lower at 1,617.08.

In the broader market, decliners led gainers 634 to 61, with 219 counters unchanged, 1,574 untraded and 17 suspended.

Turnover stood at 449.34 million units worth RM203.89 million.

ActivTrade trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities are likely to trade on the back foot (experiencing a downturn) on Thursday following a risk-off tone from Wall Street.

"Major United States (US) indexes closed significantly lower, dragged down by large-cap stocks in the technology, consumer discretionary and communication services sectors.

"The negative sentiment was exacerbated by disappointing earnings from Google and Tesla, ahead of other key reports from the ‘Magnificent Seven’ in the upcoming weeks," he said.

He said the risk-off sentiment could favour traditional safe-haven stocks, with the utilities and healthcare sectors likely to gain.

Looking ahead, he said traders will digest the recent sell-off and focus on the US quarter two advance gross domestic products (GDP) report and the US core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data on Friday. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slip 4.0 sen to RM10.08, Tenaga Nasional declined 14.0 sen to RM14.26, Public Bank and CIMB Group fell 2.0 sen each to RM4.16 and RM7.18, while IHH Healthcare declined 3.0 sen to RM6.22.

Among the actives, Zen Tech International and Artroniq Bhd gained half-a-sen each to 1.5 sen and 21.5 sen, while Aimflex Bhd decreased half-a-sen to 19.5 sen, Hubline Bhd fell 1.0 sen to 12 sen and RGB International was 1.5 sen lower at 41.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 105.08 points to 12,442.74, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 97.31 points to 12,028.35, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 127.25 points to 12,749.63.

The FBM 70 Index decreased 231.30 points to 18,463.09 and the FBM ACE Index decreased 87.04 points to 5,769.82.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened by 76.46 points to 17,873.84, the Plantation Index decreased 5.86 points to 7,166.78, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 1.70 points to 191.61, while the Energy Index decreased 10.10 points to 955.93.

-- BERNAMA