Bursa opens marginally lower in early session

KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower in line with a weaker Wall Street performance overnight.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had fallen 5.30 points to 1,603.89 from yesterday’s close at 1,609.19.

The index opened 0.23 of a point easier at 1,608.96.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 231 to 159, while 311 counters were unchanged, 1,500 untraded and 86 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 453.71 million shares worth RM154.29 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said trading activities on the local bourse had somewhat weakened as sentiment remained cautious.

“As for the benchmark index, it seems like it is still stuck in consolidation mode, hence we anticipate it to hover within the 1,605-1,615 range today,” it said in a research note today.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLB) had risen two sen each to RM4.30 and RM18.82 respectively, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) gained one sen to RM8.11, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was flat at RM8.40, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) eased four sen to RM10.36 and IHH Healthcare Bhd fell five sen to RM5.38.

As for the active counters, Sapura Energy Bhd edged up half a sen to 15.5 sen and Solid Automotive Bhd bagged 1.5 sen to 24 sen, whereas AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) and mTouche Technology Bhd were both flat at 9.5 sen and four sen respectively, while AT Systematization Bhd and Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) inched down half a sen to 10 sen and 39 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 30 points to 11,792.77, the FBM 70 decreased 11.06 points to 15,591.31, the FBMT 100 slipped 30.16 points to 11,464.88, the FBM ACE gave up 22.75 points to 10,210.14 and the FBM Emas Shariah shed 56.60 points to 13,032.79.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index put on 28.85 points to 15,487.76, the Plantation Index went down 6.33 points to 7,128.34 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.08 of a point to 193.45.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets