Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street’s overnight decline as investors remained cautious ahead of the United States presidential election today.

At 9.12 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 0.99 of-a-point to 1,615.44 from Monday’s close of 1,616.43. 

The benchmark index initially gained 1.77 points at the opening, reaching 1,618.20.

Across the broader market, gainers slightly outpaced decliners 159 to 157, while 280 counters were unchanged, 1,783 remained untraded, and eight were suspended.

Turnover stood at 155.58 million shares valued at RM115.14 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said that Wall Street closed lower yesterday after a choppy session as sentiment remained jittery ahead of the US presidential election today.

The 2024 US presidential election is scheduled with Vice-President Kamala Harris for the Democratic Party and former President Donald Trump for the Republican Party as the main candidates.

“Traders are also focused on the Federal Reserve’s anticipated rate cut on Thursday.

“Consequently, the US 10-year yield retreated to 4.28 per cent following several days of an uptrend,” he told Bernama.

On the domestic front, Thong said that as we enter the corporate earnings season, he expects market sentiment to improve, supported by a solid 15.4 per cent earnings growth forecast for 2024.

He anticipates that the FBM KLCI will trade within the 1,610-1,620 range today.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group and Public Bank each added 1.0 sen to RM8.05 and RM4.43, respectively. Maybank and IHH Healthcare remained unchanged at RM10.44 and RM7.33, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional slipped 6.0 sen to RM14.02.

Regarding the active counters, JAKS Resources increased 1.0 sen to 14 sen. Sorento Capital, Silver Ridge and AHB Holdings added half-a-sen each to 40 sen, 51.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Cable was flat at 13 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 10.73 points to 12,216.53, the FBMT 100 Index increased 11.61 points to 11,928.80, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 15.21 points to 12,210.49, and the FBM 70 Index surged 87.13 points to 17,828.03.

Meanwhile, the FBM ACE Index declined by 8.97 points to 5,049.84.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 17.80 points to 19,066.48, the Energy Index climbed 1.18 points to 843.58, and the Plantation Index added 1.58 points to 7,581.47.

The Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.26 of-a-point to 174.64.

-- BERNAMA