Bursa Malaysia Opens Marginally Lower, Hot US Inflation Reading Weighs
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia was marginally lower in early trade Thursday as investors reacted to the hotter-than-expected US inflation data, which is expected to prevent the Federal Reserve from easing interest rate.
At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 0.43 of-a-point to 1,602.62.
The market barometer opened 1.07 points lower at 1,601.98 compared to yesterday’s close of 1,603.05.
The broader market, however, was slightly positive with gainers outpacing losers 134 to 126, while 247 counters were unchanged, 1,811 untraded and 23 suspended.
Turnover amounted to 150 million units worth RM60.85 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that US January's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.5 per cent, marking the largest increase since August 2023, while core CPI climbed 0.4 per cent.
This inflationary pressure contributed to a lower close for Wall Street, while the US 10-year yield spiked to 4.627 per cent.
Despite these developments, Thong believes that the ongoing uncertainty and high valuations in the US market could redirect some funds toward Asian markets.
“Thus, for today we expect the index to trend within the 1,600-1,610 range,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects buying interest to persist on the local market within the banking and real estate investment trust (REIT) sectors.
“We also see potential opportunities in glove stocks, amid ongoing tariffs threat on China’s products, along with a stronger US dollar outlook. We anticipate earnings to begin materialising for stocks tied to the data centre supply chain,” it said in a note.
At home, heavyweights Maybank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM10.60 and RM13.94 respectively.
CIMB eased five sen to RM8.35, Public Bank rose one sen to RM4.51, while IHH Healthcare bagged two sen to RM7.30.
Among the active counters, Ingenieur Gudang, Sarawak Cable and Velesto Energy were unchanged at 5.5 sen, 13 sen, and 18.5 sen respectively.
Harvest Miracle fell half-a-sen to 15.5 sen and Silver Ridge perked up half-a-sen to 58 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 7.53 points to 12,199.65, the FBMT 100 Index rose 8.18 points to 11,903.54, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 13.86 points to 11,991.86.
The FBM 70 Index increased 57.21 points to 18,037 and the FBM ACE Index improved 0.97 of-a-point to 5,218.28.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed by 2.20 points to 19,436.60 and the Plantation Index was 7.73 points better at 7,524.27.
The Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.10 of-a-point to 164.37 and the Energy Index ticked up 0.57 of-a-point to 818.84.
-- BERNAMA