KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened lower today taking the cue from Wall Street’s weaker performance overnight impacted by the downgrade of the US credit rating by Fitch, said an analyst.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) went down 2.07 points to 1,442.49 from 1,444.56 at yesterday’s close. The key index opened 3.19 points weaker at 1,441.37.
The broader market was negative as decliners surpassed advancers 236 to 95, while 240 counters were unchanged, 1,701 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 230.06 million units worth RM77.44 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street finally loses steam following Fitch’s downgrade of the US sovereign rating from AAA to AA+, thus sparking a sell-off.
As a result, the Dow Jones Index Average lost 348 points while the Nasdaq declined by 310 points as the US 10-year yield inched higher at 4.09 per cent.
On the home front, the FBM KLCI retreated further as sentiment turned cautious attributed to widespread decline among the regional markets.
“Though we reckon market sentiment may have been affected by the US downgrade, we believe this presents an excellent opportunity to bargain hunt as judging by the last US rating downgrade in 2011, we noticed the equity markets did not experience any prolonged negative reaction.
“Therefore, we expect the index to hover within the 1,440-1,450 range today,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank lost three sen each to RM8.92 and RM4.10, Tenaga Nasional decreased four sen to RM9.53 and Petronas Chemicals fell one sen to RM6.74, while CIMB was flat at RM5.47.
Of the actives, Mudajaya added 1.5 sen to 20 sen, MRCB gained one sen to 38.5 sen, while UEM Sunrise slid half sen to 50 sen.
Both Tanco and Leform are flat at 55.5 sen and 21.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 18.95 points to 10,592.70, the FBMT 100 Index weakened by 18.06 points to 10,287.62, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 12.22 points to 10,860.23, the FBM ACE Index eased 5.23 points to 5,283.66 and the FBM 70 Index edged down 38.39 points to 13,873.49.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index reduced by 0.27 of-a-point to 165.50 and the Financial Services Index slipped by 44.27 points to 16,079.12, and the Energy Index lost 5.48 points to 826.99.
The Plantation Index advanced by 26.27 points to 7,127.16. – Bernama, August 3, 2023
