KUALA LUMPUR (May 19): Stocks on Bursa Malaysia got off to a lacklustre start on Thursday (May 19), tracking the overnight rout at Wall Street.
-Advertisement-
At 9.01am, the FBM KLCI fell 6.71 points to 1,548.2.
The top losers included Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Vitrox Corp Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.
Reuters said Wall Street ended sharply lower on Wednesday, with Target losing around a quarter of its stock market value and highlighting worries about the US economy after the retailer became the latest victim of surging prices.
-Advertisement-
It was the worst one-day loss for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average since June 2020, it said.
Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief on Thursday said despite easing lockdowns in Shanghai and further relaxations on a year-long clampdown on technology giants, the overnight rout on Wall Street should spill over to the local market, as investors are expected to adopt a risk-off mode due to precarious headwinds for global GDP growth and corporate earnings expectations, grappled by punitive inflation, hawkish Fed, rising geopolitical tensions in Europe (precipitated by Russia-Ukraine war, and Finland and Sweden both announcing their bids to join the NATO), and Bank Negara Malaysia’s rates normalisation (towards 2.5% by end 2022).
“Key supports are situated at 1,500-1,509-1,538 zones whilst resistances are pegged at 1,565-1,576-1,586,” it said.-BERNAMA