BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS LOWER

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower today, mirroring the downbeat performance on Wall Street overnight, said an analyst. 

At 9.14 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 2.96 points to 1,626.72 from Tuesday's close of 1,629.68. The index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,631.31.

In the broader market, decliners led gainers 239 to 165, with 361 counters unchanged, 1,706 untraded and six suspended.

Turnover stood at 334.74 million units worth RM135.80 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said that given the current sentiment in Malaysian stocks and the ongoing bull run this year, the market will likely trend upward in the long term.

"The FBM KLCI rebounded to near the crucial 1,630 mark yesterday as bargain hunters returned, pushing daily traded volume above five billion shares.

"We remain positive that interest in the local bourse will persist despite recent foreign fund outflows," he told Bernama.

Thong said he expects the local index to hover within the 1,625-1,635 range today.

Among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional fell 2.0 sen to RM14.42, CIMB Group declined 3.0 sen to RM7.17, and IHH Healthcare decreased 1.0 sen to RM6.30.

Maybank and Public Bank were flat each at RM10.10 and RM4.20, respectively.

Among the actives, MQ Technology increased half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, and Malaysia Steel Works added 2.0 sen to 39 sen.

Velocity Capital Partner and Ekovest Bhd were unchanged at 6.5 sen and 49 sen, respectively, while Hubline Bhd declined half-a-sen to 12 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 20.69 points to 12,603.85, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 22.30 points to 12,177.92, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 24.56 points to 12,950.05, while the FBM 70 Index fell 35.07 points to 18,813.39 and the FBM ACE Index eased 8.19 points to 5,903.87.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened by 13.74 points to 17,960.40, the Plantation Index dipped 13.38 points to 7,184.54, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.57 points to 195.88, while the Energy Index fell 1.22 points to 972.04.

-- BERNAMA