Bursa Malaysia Opens Mixed But Turns Lower Thereafter

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today but turned lower thereafter, tracking Wall Street's overnight performance which closed lower after its recent rally, said an analyst. 

At 9.07 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 2.02 points to 1,639.95, compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,641.97. 

The benchmark index initially opened 1.83 points higher at 1,643.80.

The broader market was negative, as decliners outpaced gainers 217 to 101, while 247 counters remained unchanged, 1,982 stocks untraded, and eight suspended.

Turnover reached 108.05 million units, valued at RM72.96 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the United States (US) stock market took a breather as traders are analysing recent earnings reports.

Meanwhile, he said the local market’s undertone remained cautious, as reflected by the low trading volume.

“In the absence of positive catalysts, we expect the index to hover within the 1,635-1,645 range today,” Thong told Bernama.

On commodities, he said that crude oil prices remained weak, with Brent crude currently trading at US$74 per barrel due to demand concerns.

Among the heavyweights, Nestle fell RM2.60 to RM103.40, YTL Power International dipped 5.0 sen to RM3.49, Petronas Chemicals shed 3.0 sen to RM5.61, Public Bank eased 2.0 sen to RM4.46 and YTL Corporation was 1.0 sen lower at RM2.30.

As for the active counters, Northeast Group slid 1.0 sen to 49.5 sen, Sarawak Cable and MRCB eased half-a-sen each to 8.5 sen and 61.5 sen, respectively, and MFlour was down by 5.0 sen to 66 sen, while PA Resources added 1.0 sen to 33 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased by 23.57 points to 12,300.63, the FBMT 100 Index slipped by 22.18 points to 12,002.69, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced by 25.25 points to 12,208.58.

The FBM 70 Index gave up 60.08 points to 17,543.72 and the FBM ACE Index narrowed by 17.44 points to 5,058.05.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened by 30.34 points to 19,384.65, the Plantation Index was 3.14 points easier at 7,261.21, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.36 of-a-point to 175.27, and the Energy Index shed 6.16 points to 850.52.

-- BERNAMA