KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday’s gains to open lower due to cautious market sentiment ahead of the Budget 2021 announcement later today.
At 9.05 am, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.84 points to 1,499.65 after opening 0.69 points easier at 1,500.80.
Gainers led losers 300 to 141, while 318 counters were unchanged, 1,383 untraded and 40 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 377.93 million worth RM219.29 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a note, said investors are anticipating the Perikatan Nasional-led government's tabling of its maiden budget, the most crucial budget amid the unprecedented health crisis that points to further measures to be dished out to rejuvenate the economy.
"Under the prevailing largely positive market sentiment, we expect the market undertone to remain buoyant as investors’ quest to search for higher yields returned.
"Hence, we continue to favour the construction sector as the impending Budget 2021 announcement may likely see the flurry of mega-infrastructure projects remains in the pipeline," it said.
The technology sector is expected to remain in the front seat, mirroring the strong gains on Nasdaq overnight.
Another analyst expects that creating jobs and safeguarding frontliners will be the Budget 2021 key areas of focus.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM7.09, Public Bank gained two sen to RM15.02, Top Glove and Hartalega unchanged at RM8.30 and RM18.00.
Nestle led the top losers, decreasing 30 sen to RM139.70, followed by GHL System easing 23 sen to RM2.67 and MISC deducting 15 sen to RM6.73.
Of the actives, Lambo and Kanger were unchanged at three sen and 20 sen respectively, while Vivocom gained 11 sen to RM1.18 and JCY International bagged three sen to 73.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 2.02 points to 10,892.19, the FBMT 100 Index was 0.21 point better at 10,682.34, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 5.95 points to 13,126.78.
The FBM 70 went up 51.99 points to 14,385.04 and the FBM ACE was 68.00 points firmer at 10,668.90.
The Financial Services Index rose 16.04 points to 12,116.16, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.06 of-a-point easier at 149.30 and the Plantation Index fell 4.58 points to 7,127.03. – Bernama, November 6, 2020
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