KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Bursa Malaysia has extended its downward trend at the opening on Monday due to the lack of catalysts.
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At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.22 points or 0.27 per cent to 1,544.29 from Friday’s close of 1,548.51.
It opened 0.89 of-a-point easier at 1,547.62.
Market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 263 to 154, while 306 counters were unchanged, 1,553 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover stood at 220.87 million units worth RM111.02 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse may see bargain hunting activities emerging on the back of declining daily COVID-19 confirmed cases as investors await Malaysia’s inflation rate data that will be released this Friday.
Malaysia recorded 14,954 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, dipping below the 15,000-case mark for the first time since July 26 when the daily tally stood at 14,516 cases.
The brokerage said investors might be on the lookout for transportations and logistics stocks on the back of the upward trend of the Baltic Exchange Dry Index.
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“Besides, declining number of daily COVID-19 confirmed cases may bode well for recovery theme sectors such as consumer, tourism and construction as well as selected building material counters.
“Meanwhile, the technology sector is still looking attractive as buying interest is still mounting in this sector despite the weaker broader market sentiment,” it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata advanced four sen each to RM8.29 and RM3.95, respectively, TNB gained two sen to RM9.92, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM7.94 and RM6.70, respectively, while Public Bank shed three sen to RM4.03 and CIMB eased one sen to RM4.81.
Of the actives, KNM added one sen to 27.5 sen, Emico went up 1.5 sen to 68 sen and Bioalpha edged up half-a-sen to 23 sen.
Meanwhile, Sapura Energy and Dagang Nexchange were flat at 12 sen and 80 sen, respectively, and Tanco inched down half-a-sen to 23 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 30.38 points to 11,335.44, the FBMT 100 Index was 31.63 points lower at 11,028.23, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 32.93 points to 12,381.21, the FBM 70 trimmed 48.74 points to 14,958.55 while the FBM ACE eased 6.96 points to 7,194.26.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index strengthened 12.22 points to 6,438.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 0.64 of-a-point to 198.97, and the Financial Services Index slipped 47.40 points to 15,242.40. -The Edge Markets