Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower On Weak US Market Sentiment

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Monday, tracking Wall Street's weaker performance on Friday night as sentiment was further eroded amid recessionary fears in the United States (US) and weaker-than-expected job data for July 2024, a dealer said.

The US job growth slowed more than expected in July, while the unemployment rate increased to 4.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent in June.

At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 27.62 points to 1,583.43, from Friday's close of 1,611.05.

The index opened 17.69 points weaker at 1,593.36.

On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 962 to 30, with 137 counters unchanged, 1,276 untraded and eight suspended.

Turnover stood at 561.79 million units worth RM280.91 million.

As a result, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined by 611 points while the Nasdaq lost 418 points as funds maintained the transition to bonds, thus pushing the US 10-year yield to a year-to-date low at 3.799 per cent. 

“Back home, the FBM KLCI was not spared either as it dipped to just above the 1,610 mark amid a regional selloff.

“We believe such drastic selling was just a knee-jerk reaction as traders may treat this as an excuse to lock in profits,” he told Bernama.

Nonetheless, he reckoned that overall sentiment might have turned cautious and anticipated some bargain hunting to resurface albeit tentatively.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB eased 10 sen to RM10.14 and RM7.30 respectively, Public Bank lost seven sen to RM4.21, Tenaga Nasional was 44 sen lower at RM13.52, and IHH Healthcare lost one sen to RM6.24.

Of the actives, Velesto Energy shed one sen to 20.5 sen, Aimflex fell 1.5 sen to 17 sen, while EA Holdings, Widad and Pegasus Heights were unchanged at half-a-sen, five sen and one sen respectively.  

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 301.30 points to 12,002.20, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed by 269.20 points to 11,650.75, the FBM 70 Index was 643.26 points lower to 17,259.54, the FBM ACE Index fell by 256.13 points to 5,214.28, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 358.75 points to 12,089.40.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 236.35 points to 17,995.23, the Construction Index was down by 15.58 points to 269.44, the Healthcare Index declined 54.12 points to 1,946.32 and the Plantation Index ticked down by 69.14 points to 7,074.47.

-- BERNAMA