KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia was broadly lower in early trade today as yesterday’s selling pressured continued amid weak market sentiment, dealers said.
At 9.23am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 3.53 points to 1,599.04 after opening half-a-point higher at 1,603.07 compared to yesterday’s close of 1,602.57.
Market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers 445 to 211, while 993 counters were unchanged, 433 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Volume stood at 1.17 million units worth RM571.48 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd research head Kenny Yee Shen Pin expects the FBM KLCI to remain volatile, impacted by high volatility among the glove counters.
“Therefore, the benchmark index will possibly hover within the 1,590 and 1,600 range today, with 1,590 being the immediate support level,” he said.
On a brighter note, he said, the ringgit is now at a 52-week high against the US dollar, hovering at RM4.00/US$1, projecting the local currency to continue strengthening to around the 3.80 level this year.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank slipped two sen to RM8.33, Public Bank trimmed four sen to RM20.48, Petronas Chemicals fell nine sen to RM7.12, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.52.
Tenaga added two sen to RM10.48 and Top Glove rose eight sen to RM5.58.
Of the actives, BCM gained one sen to 37 sen, DGB inched up half-a-sen to 27.5 sen, Techna-X bagged 1.5 sen to 16 sen, but Niche shed one sen to 27 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 41.19 points lower at 11,565.27, FBMT 100 Index decreased 41.88 points to 11,302.28, FBM 70 gave up 121 points for 14,877.54, FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 37.11 points to 12,906.29, while FBM ACE bagged 18.52 points to 10,753.21.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.06 points to 174.39, the Financial Services Index eased 63.48 points to 15,178.43 and the Plantation Index declined 5.52 points to 7,323.98. – Bernama, January 5, 2021
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