KUALA LUMPUR: It looks like another quiet trading day on Bursa Malaysia as the market continues to wind down for the upcoming Hari Raya festivities.
With two more trading days to go before the extended holiday weekend starts on Friday, Bursa Malaysia is likely to continue its sideways trading direction.
At Wednesday’s opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 0.79 points to 1,431.57, with an absence of domestic market leads to guide trading direction.
In the previous session, the FBM KLCI was slightly lower, in line with most regional markets.
This was despite the strong first-quarter gross domestic growth announced by China, as investors remained wary of global corporate earnings and interest rate announcements.
“There may be further consolidation on the global front during the earnings season as the corporate results may be impacted from the interest rate hike environment.
“Meanwhile, we believe the mixed sentiment may persist on the local front as traders may be on the sidelines ahead of the special holiday on Friday,” said Malacca Securities Research in a note.
Some early decliners on Bursa included Nestle down RM1.10 to RM135, F&N falling 42 sne to RM27.18 and Heineken dropping 18 sen to RM26.82.
Hextar Technologies slid 30 sen to RM23, Pentamaster lost nine sen to RM4.96 and SAM Engineering slid seven sen to RM4.43.
Among the leading actives, Hong Seng was unchanged at 13 sen, Pharmaniaga rose 3.5 sen to 41 sen and Vinvest gained one sen to 20 sen. – The Star