KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Bursa Malaysia retreated from last week’s gains to open lower on Monday (Aug 15), as profit-taking activities emerged on selected heavyweights following the strong closing last Friday, dealers said.
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At 9.23am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had eased 2.30 points to 1,503.89, from 1,506.19 at last Friday’s close.
The benchmark index opened 0.23 of a point higher at 1,506.42.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 194 to 165, while 314 counters were unchanged, 1,604 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 308.34 million units worth RM169.91 million.
Rakuten Trade vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the KLCI is expected to stay resilient and maintain its uptrend on Monday, hovering in the 1,510-1,520 range.
“Wall Street rebounded last Friday as many believe that US inflation may have peaked.
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“As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 424 points, while the Nasdaq gained 267 points, as the US 10-year yield eased marginally to 2.84%,” he said.
Sector-wise, Thong noted that telco stocks — especially those of network operators — have been underperforming of late, and reckoned that they should be ripe for accumulation.
On commodities, he said that crude palm oil had jumped to above RM4,400 per tonne, tracking higher soybean oil prices, while Brent crude fell to US$98 (RM435.90) per barrel due to concerns over weakening demand.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was flat at RM8.97, Public Bank Bhd slipped one sen to RM4.64 and CIMB also was down one sen to RM5.42, IHH Healthcare Bhd declined five sen to RM6.44, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose two sen to RM8.82.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy Bhd was flat at 5.5 sen and Top Glove Corp Bhd fell 3.5 sen to 8.2 sen, while SP Tech Holdings Bhd added one sen to RM1.21, and AwanBiru Technology Bhd increased two sen to 41.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 8.02 points to 10,675.16, the FBMT 100 Index shed 13.06 points to 10,414.55, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 5.27 points to 10,785.06, and the FBM 70 lost 4.31 points to 12,757.08, while the FBM ACE increased 13.66 points to 4,950.40.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 11.65 points to 16,815.96, the Plantation Index went down 21.34 points to 7,175.47, while the Energy Index slipped 1.29 points to 661.83, and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.25 of a point to 184.92.-BERNAMA