Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower, Tracking Wall Street's Slump

By Karina Imran

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia trended lower in early trading, tracking Wall Street’s decline as traders weighed on the latest batch of data suggesting the United States (US) economic growth was weakening, said an analyst. 

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 9.94 points to 1,581.09 from Friday’s close of 1,591.03. 

The benchmark index opened 4.64 points easier at 1,586.39.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 252 to 74, with 266 counters unchanged, 1,761 untraded and 10 suspended. 

Turnover stood at 180.28 million shares worth RM76.11 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said lower consumer sentiment, inflationary pressure, and lower home sales have led traders to look for safer assets. 

“Back home, the FBM KLCI ended above the 1,590 mark on Friday as we believe foreign funds are finally back in view of the positive regional performances,” he told Bernama. 

Last Friday, major regional indices trended positively, with the Hang Seng Index (HSI) surging 3.99 per cent to end at 23,477.92, the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) increasing 0.85 per cent to close at 3,379.11, and the Nikkei 225 up 0.26 per cent to finish at 38,776.94.

Thong anticipates a flight of funds from US equities to Asia, which will be attributed to a better risk or reward ratio. 

Hence, he expects the FBM KLCI index to trend within the 1,590-1,600 range today. 

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped four sen to RM10.46, Public Bank shed five sen to RM4.45, and Tenaga Nasional dropped 14 sen to RM13.84. 

CIMB added four sen to RM8.40 and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.26. 

In active stocks, Ingenieur Gudang, Elridge Energy and Aizo were flat at five sen, 47 sen and eight sen, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Harvest Miracle Capital edged up half-a-sen to 13.5 sen, and Oriental Kopi was down three sen to 80 sen.  

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 70.04 points to 11,921.63, the FBMT 100 Index shaved 70.68 points to 11,654.55, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 84.70 points to 11,632.21, the FBM 70 Index dipped 94.83 points to 17,310.03 and the FBM ACE Index erased 10.75 points to 4,910.23.  

By sector, the Financial Services Index eased 52.19 points to 19,265.84, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.56 points to 163.49,  the Plantation Index decreased 27.25 points to 7,431.07, and the Energy Index lost 3.81 points to 781.95.

-- BERNAMA