KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): Bursa Malaysia was lower in early trade on Tuesday (July 26), following a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, ahead of corporate earnings reports and the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) meeting, a dealer said.
-Advertisement-
At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI had fallen 4.42 points to 1,464.80 from Monday’s close at 1,469.22
The benchmark index opened 2.73 points easier at 1,466.49.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 148 to 133, while 247 counters were unchanged, 1,781 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 237.15 million units worth RM80.61 million.
In a research note on Tuesday, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse outperformed regional peers on Monday, as the key index gained momentum in the final trading hour to close at its intraday high, supported by an influx of foreign funds.
“Although market sentiment has been improving over the past few sessions, we reckon investors may remain cautious ahead of the Fed’s interest rate decision, and could take a breather in view of the mixed performance on Wall Street overnight.
“Commodities-wise, both crude oil and crude palm oil prices trended mildly higher, trading above US$105 (about RM467.67) and RM3,700 respectively,” it said.
-Advertisement-
The brokerage firm expects trading activities to revolve around the sectors such as consumer and banking stocks due to their defensive characteristics as well as the interest up-cycle environment.
Besides, the healthcare sector may see some buying interest after Singapore reported more cases of monkeypox, it said.
“On the flip side, selected technology stocks may pull back following the performance on the Nasdaq,” said Malacca Securities.
Bursa heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Public Bank Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd eased one sen each to RM8.79, RM4.61 and RM8.63 respectively, while IHH Healthcare Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd declined two sen each to RM6.43 and RM5.20.
Of the actives, ACE Market debutant UMediC Group Bhd advanced 19.5 sen to 51.5 sen, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd and South Malaysia Industries Bhd gained one sen each to 9.5 sen and 37.5 sen respectively, while Zen Tech International Bhd and VinVest Capital Holdings Bhd were flat at 5.5 sen and 18 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 25.53 points to 10,374.36, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 32.81 points to 10,413.43, the FBM 70 was 11.95 points lower at 12,377.01, the FBMT 100 Index shed 25.71 points to 10,134.66, and the FBM ACE dropped 18.91 points to 4,731.20.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 9.77 points to 6,884.14 and the Energy Index climbed 3.65 points to 636.38, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.76 of a point to 176.50, and the Financial Services Index weakened 16.54 points to 16,493.08.-BERNAMA