Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower On Profit-Taking

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia retreated in early trade due to profit-taking amid a lack of fresh local catalysts, despite the positive performance on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.16 points to 1,584.91 after closing at 1,587.07 yesterday. The index opened 0.24 of-a-point lower at 1,586.83.

In the broader market, decliners beat gainers 223 to 139, while 245 counters were unchanged, with 1,990 untraded and 66 suspended.

Turnover was 243.90 million shares worth RM128.83 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that the S&P 500 touched another record high overnight as traders were convinced that Nvidia’s earnings further affirmed the prevailing artificial intteligence boom, despite with some initial concerns. “Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield eased to 4.21 per cent, further highlighting the rate cut possibility by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in mid-September,” he told Bernama.

Back home, Thong said that despite a rather positive performance throughout the day, the FBM KLCI ended marginally lower yesterday, attributed to last minute selling activities. “We believe this could be due to profit taking by foreign funds. For today, we expect the index to hover in the 1,585-1,595 range ahead of the long weekend,” he added.

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank shed three sen to RM9.92, Public Bank shaved one sen to RM4.27, and CIMB Group slipped 2.0 sen to RM7.43. Tenaga Nasional eased six sen to RM13.38, while IHH Healthcare added 2.0 sen RM6.81.

In actively traded stocks, Tanco Holdings lost two sen to 70.5 sen, Genetec Technology fell 6.5 sen to 57 sen, while Reneuco and Mtouche Technology edged down half-a-sen to two sen and four sen, respectively. Eversendai added 2.5 sen to 46.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 19.02 points to 11,761.62, the FBMT 100 Index eased 15.02 points to 11,538.27, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 23.21 points to 11,724.58. The FBM 70 Index gave up 18.33 points to 16,533.87, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 16.68 points to 4,725.92.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 29.87 points to 18,145.56, and the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.64 of-a-point to 162.57. The Plantation Index was 2.52 points higher at 7,614.42, and the Energy Index added 1.55 points to 747.60.

-- BERNAMA