KUALA LUMPUR (July 1): Bursa Malaysia opened lower in most indices due to weaker buying sentiment, following Wall Street’s weaker performance, analysts said.
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At 9.08am on Friday (July 1), the FBM KLCI had declined 0.67 of a point to 1,443.55 from Thursday’s close at 1,444.22.
The benchmark index opened 2.60 points easier at 1,441.62.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 148 to 109, while 161 counters were unchanged, 1,811 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover stood at 111.2 million units worth RM58.47 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said US equities closed lower as sentiments remained jittery following signs that the US Federal Reserve would maintain its aggressive interest rate increase in its forthcoming meeting in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.82% lower, the S&P 500 fell 0.88% and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.33%.
On the local front, Thong said the KLCI had succumbed to some last-minute selling amid some portfolio rebalancing by foreign funds.
“We reckon the local bourse will remain in the consolidation phase, trending in the 1,435-1,450 range today (Friday),” Thong told Bernama.
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In terms of commodities, he noted that the oil benchmark Brent crude price had eased to below US$115 (about RM506.92) per barrel on recessionary fears.
Meanwhile, as markets enter the second half of 2022, the online equities broker believes that prevailing low valuations and a relatively steady economic outlook should attract foreign funds despite subdued sentiments on the local bourse.
“We should see these foreign funds providing much-needed liquidity in the market, thus we anticipate the KLCI to possibly touch 1,670 by year end, premised on a reasonable 13.5 times calendar year 2022 (CY22) price-earnings ratio.
“We believe banking and plantation sectors’ earnings will surprise on the upside this year. As for CY23, we expect earnings growth to rebound by 5.4%,” said Thong.
Year to date, the KLCI had fallen 7.87% as of June 30 from 1,567.53 recorded on Dec 31, 2021.
Among the heavyweights on Friday, Hartalega Holdings Bhd eased 17 sen to RM2.89, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd was down five sen to RM4.71, MR DIY Group (M) Bhd shed four sen to RM2.03, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) decreased two sen to RM8.57 and Public Bank Bhd was flat at RM4.37, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose three sen to RM9.03.
Of the actives, both Yong Tai Bhd and Reach Energy Bhd were flat at nine sen and 5.5 sen respectively, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd declined 2.5 sen and Top Glove Corp Bhd reduced two sen to RM1.02, while SMTrack Bhd and Yew Lee Pacific Group Bhd added half a sen to seven sen and 24.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 9.04 points to 10,298.22, the FBM Emas Shariah Index narrowed 17.85 points to 10,486.11, FBM 70 slid 26.11 points to 12,467.10, FBM ACE increased 17.02 points to 4,768.40 and the FBMT 100 Index fell 8.58 points to 10,038.91.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eased 9.12 points to 15,975.06 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.16 of a point lower at 181.54, while the Plantation Index gained 13.62 points to 6,914.45.-BERNAMA