KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher today but retreated within minutes despite Wall Street’s rallies overnight as the market speculated about a positive outcome from the United States’ ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, a dealer said.
At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.49 points to 1,422.85 from 1,424.34 at yesterday’s close.
The barometer index opened 0.40 points higher at 1,424.74.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 158 to 120, while 234 counters were unchanged, 1,734 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 236.98 million units worth RM93.64 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the ongoing negotiations on the US debt ceiling contributed to Wall Street’s strong overnight performance, adding that the market has also been reducing exposure to gold.
On commodities, Brent crude oil price surged to above US$75 (RM339.37) per tonne, while crude palm oil fell to below RM3,500 per tonne and gold prices eased to below US$2,000 per ounce.
“Following Wall Street’s positive performance, we believe traders may look into riskier sectors soon.
“We expect the healthcare-related stocks to take the lead on the back of recovering earnings, while investors may look into poultry stocks for investment opportunities after Teo Seng Capital’s stellar results,” the brokerage firm said.
However, it said the state elections, coupled with the ongoing earnings season could cap the upside potential at least for the near term.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals gained two sen each to RM8.73 and RM7.00, respectively, TNB lost 12 sen to RM9.63 and CIMB eased one sen to RM4.97, while Public Bank was flat at RM3.96.
As for the actives, Revenue and Dagang NexChange inched up one sen to 32 sen and 46.5 sen, respectively, YTL Corporation trimmed one sen to 74 sen, while Bahvest Resources, Classita and Meta Bright were flat at 11.5 sen, 15 sen and 18 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shaved 6.61 points to 10,434.83, the FBMT 100 Index declined 7.24 points to 10,129.28, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 12.47 points to 10,799.19 and the FBM ACE Index slipped 3.58 points to 4,993.20.
However, the FBM 70 Index advanced 4.31 points to 13,588.33.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.02 of-a-point to 166.44, the Financial Services Index gained 7.23 points to 15,512.84 and the Energy Index added 3.06 points to 837.63, but the Plantation Index fell 27.25 points to 7,021.17. – Bernama, May 18, 2023
