KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 7): Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Wednesday (Sept 7), tracking Wall Street’s weaker performance, as concerns over higher interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) continued to weigh on sentiments, a dealer said.
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At 9.12am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had shed 3.26 points to 1,485.01, from Tuesday’s close at 1,488.27.
The benchmark index opened 2.35 points weaker at 1,485.92.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 235 to 102, while 202 counters were unchanged, 1,735 untraded, and eight others suspended.
Turnover stood at 206.53 million units worth RM83.36 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said he expects to see some buying interest in financial stocks on Wednesday, especially banking counters that were victims of the last-minute selling spree on Tuesday.
“Meanwhile, the crude palm oil price skidded to below RM3,800 per tonne due to aggressive exports from Indonesia to reduce their own stockpiles,” he told Bernama.
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He said the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 173 points, and the Nasdaq declined by 86 points, while the US 10-year yield surged to 3.35% overnight.
On the local front, he reckoned that the index would be stuck within a tight range of between 1,485 and 1,500 on Wednesday, as trading is expected to remain lacklustre.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) added two sen to RM8.92 and IHH Healthcare Bhd gained two sen as well to RM6.17, while Public Bank Bhd shed one sen to RM4.65, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost one sen to RM8.73, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd too decreased by one sen to RM5.45.
Of the actives, Metronic Global Bhd gained one sen to 8.5 sen and MQ Technology Bhd was flat at 3.5 sen, while Cypark Resources Bhd slid 2.5 sen to 33 sen, UMediC Group Bhd reduced half a sen to 71.5 sen, and Agmo Holdings Bhd shrank one sen to 92 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lessened 26.37 points to 10,542.53, the FBMT 100 Index inched down 26.34 points to 10,291.20, the FBM 70 gave up 47.11 points to 12,636.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 40.22 points to 10,593.83, and the FBM ACE shed 24.61 points to 4,775.78.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 14.63 points better at 7,014.68, while the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 2.10 points to 181.53, the Financial Services Index fell 4.81 points to 16,730.08, and the Energy Index edged down 9.23 points to 712.21.-BERNAMA