Bursa Malaysia Lower In Early Trade, Tracking Wall St Decline

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened flat today and turned lower thereafter, likely tracking the decline on Wall Street overnight, said an analyst. 

At 9.21 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.58 points to 1,594.75 from Tuesday’s close of 1,597.33. The index opened unchanged.

The market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced gainers 245 to 165 while 368 counters were unchanged, 1,693 untraded and 10 suspended.

Turnover stood at 242.01 million units worth RM116.76 million. 

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street closed broadly lower overnight as traders worried about the uncertainties that Donald Trump’s looming US presidency might bring.

As for Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index declined further as investors remained disillusioned over the lack of details from Beijing’s recent announcements to ease policy measures.

On the local front, the FBM KLCI closed below the 1,600 level yesterday on continued foreign selling.

“Admittedly, it was another dismal day for regional markets, especially in Southeast Asia.  The recent weakness of the local bourse has rendered valuations to a more alluring level, estimated at 14.7 times currently, based on 2025 numbers. For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,595-1,605 range,” he told Bernama. 

Among heavyweight counters, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB were all flat at RM10.14, RM4.52 and RM8.04 respectively. Tenaga was up by 4.0 sen to RM13.84 and IHH Healthcare shed 4.0 sen to RM7.06. 

Among active stocks, Carlo Rino Group was four sen lower to 23 sen, Jati Tinggi Group rose 5.5 sen to 46 sen, Datasonic Grouo and Cropmate added half-a-sen each to 42 sen and 20 sen, respectively, while Cabnet rose 3.0 sen to 46 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 5.08 points to 12,256.95, the FBM Emas Index slid 9.39 points to 12,273.74 and the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 5.12 points to 11,940.87.

The FBM 70 Index was down by 25.91 points to 18,384.15 but the FBM ACE Index increased 16.04 points to 5,257.90.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.32 of a point to 171.82, the Energy Index dropped 2.75 points to 813.91 and the Plantation Index gained 17.93 points to 7,646.02.

The Financial Services Index shed 5.98 points to 18,930.03.

-- BERNAMA