Bursa Malaysia Edges Lower Amid Wall Street's Slump

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia's barometer index opened the trading day positively but soon eased, mirroring Wall Street’s slump. 

At 9.08 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 0.60 of-a-point or 0.03 per cent to 1,535.88 from Monday's close of 1,536.48. The index had opened 5.66 points higher at 1,542.14.

On the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners 439 to 314, with 315 counters unchanged, 1,337 untraded and seven suspended.

Turnover stood at 516.03 million units worth RM378.70 million.

Dealers noted that selling intensified as traders adopted a "sell first, think later" approach amid recessionary fears in the United States.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunged 1,034 points, while the Nasdaq dropped 576 points. The US 10-year yield fell to 3.778 per cent, marking a 52-week low.

Nonetheless, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng argued that the selling was overdone, as the market valuation is not as extreme as on Wall Street. 

"Over the past two days, our market price-to-earnings ratio dipped from 15.4 times to 14.6 times, presenting an excellent opportunity for value accumulation,” he told Bernama.

Thong expects today's selling to be less dramatic, as Wall Street futures indicated a rebound at the time of writing, predicting the index will hover within the 1,500-1,550 range.

Yesterday, global markets experienced a Black Monday, with Japan’s stock market posting its worst drop since 1987, fueling fears of global turmoil. 

The catalyst was concern over a US recession following a disappointing July jobs report, which saw the unemployment rate climb to 4.3 per cent, the highest since October 2021.

Meanwhile, the US nonfarm payrolls grew by only 114,000 last month, below the downwardly revised 179,000 in June and the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000. 

Despite this, Japan's Nikkei Index regained momentum, improving 3,336.78 points, or 10.61 per cent, to 34,795.20 at the time of writing.

Similarly, South Korea’s Kospi Index rose by 4.50 per cent to 2,551.50, and Singapore’s STI Index firmed 0.75 per cent to 3,268.06. In contrast, Indonesia’s IDX Composite Index decreased by 50.86 per cent to 7,059.65.

Back home, heavyweights saw mixed results. Maybank eased five sen to RM9.85, Public Bank lost three sen to RM4.10, CIMB decreased 13 sen to RM6.88, IHH Healthcare shed four sen to RM6.03, while Tenaga Nasional remained unchanged at RM13.16.

Among actives, Talam slid half-a-sen to two sen, while MY E.G recouped four sen to 86.5 sen. TWL Holdings, Berjaya Corp and Velesto Energy gained half-a-sen each to three sen, 36.5 sen, and 20 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 29.52 points to 11,635.43, the FBMT 100 Index rose 26.26 points to 11,298.62, the FBM 70 Index was 152.44 points lower at 16,729.34, the FBM ACE Index climbed 66.01 points to 5,021.09 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index appreciated 78.39 points to 11,747.27.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 139.85 points to 17,406.90, the Energy Index gained 3.84 points to 856.55, the Plantation Index improved by 50.60 points to 6,939.24, the Technology Index inched up 0.97 of-a-point to 65.78 and the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.13 points to 172.26.

-- BERNAMA