KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher in early trade but turned lower thereafter, tracking the weaker performance on Wall Street overnight, a dealer said.
At 9.10am on Tuesday (July 12), the key index had declined by 2.85 points to 1,422.94 from last Friday’s close at 1,425.79. It opened 0.40 of a point higher at 1,426.19.
The market was closed on Monday for the replacement holiday of Hari Raya Aidiladha.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 226 to 105, while 193 counters were unchanged, 1,716 untraded and eight others suspended.
Turnover stood at 251.31 million units worth RM70.4 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street traders were in cautious mode as they awaited the earnings season, which is expected to kick off later this week.
On the home front, he said the FBM KLCI is expected to remain in consolidation mode after the index edged higher last Friday due to some bargain-hunting activities.
“Therefore, we anticipate the benchmark index to hover within the 1,415-1,430 range today (Tuesday),” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) gained one sen to RM8.63, IHH Healthcare Bhd added four sen to RM6.40 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) gained one sen to RM7.93, while Public Bank Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) eased two sen to RM4.38 and RM8.45 respectively, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was down three sen to RM5.11
As for the actives, TWL Holdings Bhd lost 1.5 sen to five sen, Metronic Global Bhd rose 5.5 sen to 15 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd added one sen to RM1, Aturmaju Resources Bhd inched down half a sen to 10.5 sen and Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) fell one sen to 75.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 23.65 points to 10,112.88, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 28.27 points to 10,165.65, the FBM 70 was 37.13 points lower at 12,159.18, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 22.20 points to 9,870.88 and the FBM ACE dropped 48.72 points to 4,619.09.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 21.39 points to 16,055.73, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.03 points lower at 171.80, the Energy Index gave up 8.04 points to 628.40 and the Plantation Index weakened 1.90 points to 6,632.96.-BERNAMA