Bursa Malaysia Trims Early Gains As Wall Street Sets Tone

By Danni Haizal Danial Donald

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher on Thursday but pared gains shortly after, tracking cues from Wall Street.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 0.54 of-a-point, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,682.88 from Wednesday’s close of 1,683.42.

The benchmark index had earlier opened 1.44 points higher at 1,684.60.

Market breadth remained positive, with 250 gainers outpacing 132 decliners. A total of 298 counters were unchanged, while 2,051 were untraded and 23 suspended.

Turnover stood at 232.53 million shares valued at RM133.89 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said it was a perplexing session on Wall Street as traders chose to look beyond prevailing tensions in West Asia.

He noted that second-round negotiations between the United States and Iran were ongoing, with President Donald Trump indicating that the conflict could be close to ending.

“Back home, we suspect foreign funds may be looking to pare down holdings following a recent buying spree. For today, we expect the FBM KLCI to hover within the 1,680-1,695 range,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM11.08, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.60 and RM8.70, respectively. Tenaga Nasional slipped two sen to RM14.12, while CIMB lost nine sen to RM7.41.

On the most active list, MMAG edged up half-a-sen to four sen, while ACE Market debutant Golden Destinations rose 3.5 sen to 48.5 sen, Velesto Energy and VS Industry were unchanged at 33 sen and 19.5 sen respectively, while AirAsia X inched up one sen to RM1.25.

Among top gainers, Nestle strengthened 48 sen to RM99.48, MBM Resources rose 16 sen to RM5.04, while Pentamaster and Hong Leong Industries each gained 14 sen to RM3.70 and RM17.18 respectively. Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 10 sen to RM21.60.

Besides CIMB, top losers included Petronas Dagangan, which fell 14 sen to RM20.58, Petronas Chemicals, down eight sen to RM5.55, while APM Automotive and Press Metal Aluminium both eased four sen to RM3.02 and RM7.97 respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 5.38 points to 12,253.72, the FBM Emas Index added 7.43 points to 12,416.69, and the FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 47.75 points to 17,551.02. The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 22.30 points to 12,354.37, while the FBM ACE Index rose 17.26 points to 4,527.25.

By sector, the Plantation Index gained 10.37 points to 8,913.0, while the Financial Services Index fell 23.55 points to 19,624.84. The Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.71 of-a-point to 186.88, while the Energy Index shed 3.68 points to 820.33.

-- BERNAMA