KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s profit taking to open lower in most indices, led by financial services and plantation, as market sentiments remain cautious amidst China’s move to ease key cities’ Covid-19 restrictions.
At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.97 points to 1,538.05 from yesterday’s close of 1,543.02.
The benchmark index opened 1.33 of-a-point higher at 1,544.35.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 208 to 184, while 235 counters were unchanged, 1,652 untraded and 42 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 210.74 million units worth RM117.82 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said, for today, the firm reckons the lack of buying catalysts should see the index hovering within a narrow range of between 1,540 and 1,550.
Meanwhile, it said the ringgit experienced an upswing against the US dollar to fetch RM4.36 currently, from a high of RM4.40 on May 18, as crude oil prices continue to climb.
“Brent crude has edged above the US$120 (RM525) per barrel mark as demand is seen to improve on the reopening of large cities in China, coupled with European Union’s failure to reach to an agreement on the Russian oil ban,” the firm said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, both Maybank and Petronas Chemicals lost 2.0 sen to RM8.96 and RM9.98, respectively, Public Bank fell 1.0 sen to RM4.58, Tenaga Nasional slid 6.0 sen to RM9.19, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.55.
Of the actives, both Dagang Nexchange and Green Packet were flat at 99 sen and 8.0 sen, respectively, Serba Dinamik decreased 1.0 sen to 10 sen, Sapura Energy shed 0.5 sen to 8.0 sen, while Priceworth added 1.5 sen to 15.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE dropped 23.72 points to 5,172.45, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 27.59 points to 11,357.68, the FBM Emas Index declined 22.86 points to 10,968.31, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 22.65 points to 10,668.05, while the FBM 70 put on 20.11 points to 13,134.21.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.82 of-a-point weaker at 198.93, the Plantation Index dipped 54.17 points to 7,888.60, and the Financial Services Index weakened 32.50 points to 16,569.10.
Meanwhile, the ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on lack of buying support, despite a correction in the greenback index or DXY which fell further to 101.367 points after being in an overbought position for some time, an analyst said.
At 9am, the local currency eased to 4.3710/3750 versus the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.3640/3685.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said amid the lower US dollar, the market still harbours fears over the hawkish stance by the US Federal Reserve and other major central banks across the globe.
“The latest inflation print in Germany, which rose to 7.9% in April from 7.4% in the prior month, signals that the European Central Bank is likely to remove its monetary policy accommodation soon to bring down the inflation,” he said.
Owing to the recent favourable ringgit-US dollar performance at RM4.3663, Afzanizam expects the pair might move closer to its immediate support level of RM4.34 as the local currency has been in an oversold position for quite some time.
The ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1914/1948 from yesterday’s close of 3.1940/1976 and increased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.4100/4134 from 3.4289/4327.
It moved higher versus the British pound to 5.5123/5173 from 5.5192/5248 yesterday and marginally improved versus the euro to 4.6966/7009 from 4.6978/7027. – Bernama, May 31, 2022
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