KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Bursa Malaysia opened lower with the key index falling 0.55 per cent in line with weaker Wall Street performance overnight.
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At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 8.87 points to 1,602.41 from Monday’s close of 1,611.28.
The index opened 5.13 points easier at 1,606.15.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 235 to 226, while 313 counters were unchanged, 1,425 untraded and 93 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 448.70 billion shares worth RM285.92 billion.
Index provider FTSE Russell will remove Malaysia from the FTSE RussellWatch List for potential reclassification of its market accessibility level from “2” to “1” and retain the country’s membership in the FTSE World Government Bond Index.
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Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said although the key index would experience some headwind with the 1,615 being the immediate resistance level, news that Malaysia would retain its membership in the FTSE World Government Bond Index might lift buying interests.
“Therefore, we anticipate foreign funds to maintain their inflows, hence, the key index may even attempt to break the 1,620 level today,” it said in a research note.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank added one sen each to RM8.39 and RM4.24, respectively, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were two sen higher at RM8.12 and RM5.32, while Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM18.80, TNB eased two sen to RM10.32, and CIMB shed one sen to RM4.43.
As for the active counters, ACE-market debutante jumped 38 sen to 58 sen, Berjaya Corp rose one sen to 34.5 sen, Solution Group went up three sen to RM1.38, Widad shed six sen to 59.5, while AirAsia trimmed five sen to RM1.08 and AirAsia X inched down half-a-sen to 10 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index discounted 45.05 points to 11,789.77, the FBM 70 decreased 1.19 points to 15,600.6, the FBMT 100 slipped 47.12 points to 11,458.86, the FBM ACE gave up 39.34 points to 10,444.75, and the FBM Emas Shariah shed 76.55 points to 13,057.07.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eked 12.27 points to 15,431.38, the Plantation Index went up 2.72 points to 7,099.18, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.37 of-a-point to 192.49. -The Edge Market