Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower Tracking Weaker Wall Street

By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, taking cues from weaker Wall Street’s overnight performance. 

The overnight performance on Wall Street was lower as selected weak earnings from mega-cap tech (technology) giants may indicate a weakening economy. 

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 10.65 points to 1,613.60, from yesterday's close of 1,624.25.

The index opened 4.94 points lower at 1,619.31.

On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 609 to 54, with 217 counters unchanged, 1,538 untraded and 20 suspended.

Turnover stood at 359.59 million units worth RM155.81 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said that with the negative trading sentiment and volatile moves in the United States, it believes there might be further selling pressure for the session.

“However, we believe it could be a buy-on-dip opportunity ahead of the results season on the local front within the construction, building materials, property, and utilities sectors.

“Additionally, we opine that the renewable energy segment should benefit from the recent incentives for solar panel installations, while the telecommunication segment could see an upside move due to the recent 5G news,” it said. 

According to Malacca Securities, traders will be eyeing the upcoming US nonfarm payroll data later today.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI ended slightly lower on Thursday as sellers remained very much in the forefront.

“Though surprised, we reckon prevailing unloading can also be attributed to the escalating tension in the Middle East amid a regional weakness.

“As such, we believe market undertone may have turned cautious after the sell-off on Wall Street, thus, anticipate the index to hover within the 1,620-1,630 range today,” he told Bernama. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased 6.0 sen to RM10.20, Public Bank shrank 3.0 sen to RM4.23, Tenaga Nasional was 10 sen lower at RM14, CIMB Group erased 5.0 sen to RM7.38, and IHH Healthcare gave up 7.0 sen to RM6.25. 

Of the actives, Dataprep Holdings and Hubline inched down half-a-sen each to 20.5 sen and 12.5 sen, while Ta Win, Jaks Resources and Velesto Energy were flat at 3.0 sen, 16.5 sen, and 22 sen, respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 108.45 points to 12,402.42, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed by 100.94 points to 12,001.71, the FBM 70 Index declined 233.33 points to 18,257.17, the FBM ACE Index weakened by 78.45 points to 5,553.17, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shaved 118.47 points to 12,609.31.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 119.17 points to 18,160.80, the Construction Index was down by 5.09 points to 295.03, the Healthcare Index dropped 16.91 points to 2,039.31, and the Plantation Index ticked down by 20.48 points to 7,171.44.

-- BERNAMA