FBM KLCI Subdued At Opening On Caution Ahead Of Us Interest Rate Decision

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 (Bernama) -- The FBM KLCI opened slightly higher this morning amid a cautious mood ahead of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting next week to decide on interest rates.

At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ticked up 2.43 points to 1,640.74 from yesterday’s close of 1,638.31. The index opened 4.32 points better at 1,642.63.

The market breadth showed improvement, with gainers outpacing decliners 183 to 90. A total of 219 counters remained unchanged, 1,973 were untraded and 26 were suspended.

Turnover totalled 88.90 million units valued at RM95.27 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that the market undertone remains cautious and expects the index to hover within the 1,635-1,645 range today.

“Wall Street ended higher (overnight) attributed to bargain hunting activities particularly on megacap tech names ahead of the highly anticipated Fed meeting next week. As such, the Dow Jones gained 235 points, the Nasdaq added 174 points while the US 10-year yield was marginally higher at 3.68 per cent. Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rebounded, in line with the regional uptrend,” he said. 

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank dropped four sen to RM10.60, Public Bank was flat at RM4.65, CIMB bounced 18 sen to RM8.11 and Tenaga gained 10 sen to RM14.78. IHH was flat at RM6.65.

Among the active counters this morning, Globetronics erased 1.5 sen to 53.5 sen, Elridge Energy added half-a-sen to 40 sen, GDex improved one sen to 18 sen while Pan Malaysia and Steel Hawk were half-a-sen better at 39 sen and 34 sen, respectively.  

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 24.05 points to 12,215.70, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 39.27 points to 12,028.85 and the FBMT 100 Index rose 22.43 points to 11,929.82. The FBM 70 Index gained 50.10 points to 17,144.65 while the FBM ACE Index topped up 2.83 points to 5,036.50.

By sector, the Financial Services Index shed 57.56 points to 19,454.09, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.47 points to 173.45 and the Energy Index rose 4.77 points to 852.41. The Plantation Index ticked up 3.93 points to 7,168.45.

-- BERNAMA