KUALA LUMPUR (June 17): Bursa Malaysia opened broadly lower on Friday (June 17), tracking losses on Wall Street overnight as investors remained cautious about the global market outlook amid market volatility, a dealer said.
At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI had fallen 25.41 points to 1,447.36 from Thursday’s close at 1,472.77.
The benchmark index opened 11.84 points lower at 1,460.93.
On the broader market, losers trumped gainers 466 to 49, while 200 counters were unchanged, 1,564 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 387.81 million units worth RM134.35 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said investors seem to be concerned that the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive approach towards curbing inflation would bring the economy into a recession.
“Due to greater market volatility across the region and the heavy selldown on Wall Street overnight, we expect the local market to face some headwinds and anticipate the benchmark index to trend range-bound within 1,460-1,470 today (Friday),” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) lost seven sen to RM8.65, Public Bank Bhd was down by five sen to RM4.50, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd contracted 15 sen to RM9.48, IHH Healthcare Bhd shed 13 sen to RM6.21 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd fell seven sen to RM4.95.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy Bhd and TWL Holdings Bhd stayed flat at five sen and seven sen respectively, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) lost 2.5 sen to 81.5 sen and Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd declined one sen to nine sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 159.19 points to 10,335.40, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 201.16 points to 10,462.47, FBM 70 lost 142.09 points to 12,498.05, FBM ACE contracted 57.94 points to 4,756.80 and the FBMT 100 Index fell 162.09 points to 10,065.13.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 152.98 points to 16,206.29, the Plantation Index lost 156.98 points to 7,161.09, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 3.31 points lower at 185.51.-BERNAMA