KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia’s main index opened almost flat in today’s early session on prevailing cautious sentiment, tracking Wall Street’s performance overnight amid volatile trading sessions, an analyst said.
At 9.12am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 0.70 of-a-point to 1,424.19 from yesterday’s close of 1,424.89.
The main index opened 0.03 of-a-point lower at 1,424.86.
However, market breadth was positive as gainers led decliners 152 to 121, while 214 counters were unchanged, 1,729 untraded, and 13 others suspended.
Meanwhile, the ringgit opened marginally lower against the US dollar today on the expectation of a pause in the United States Federal Reserve’s Fund Rate in its next meeting on May 2 and 3.
The expectation was premised on US Initial Jobless Claims data – which came in higher than expected with 228,000 real against 200,000 forecast, said an analyst.
At 9.02am, the local note fell to 4.4000/4050 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.3950/4010. – Bernama, April 7, 2023
