KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened higher but retreated shortly after, prompted by profit-taking in almost all indices across the board.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 7.58 points to 1,513.24 from yesterday’s close of 1,520.82.
The index opened 3.08 points higher at 1,523.90.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 218 to 148, while 265 counters were unchanged, 1,608 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 283.15 million units worth RM186.92 million.
Meanwhile, the ringgit opened firmer against the greenback today as US stocks tumbled after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s dovish testimony failed to provide any fresh catalysts to buy risky assets, an analyst said.
At 9am, the local note rose by 20 basis points (bps) to open at 4.2000/2015 versus the US dollar from 4.2020/2030 at yesterday’s close.
Powell noted that inflation would overshoot over the Fed’s 2% target for a while before going down to match the target, signalling that it is premature to tighten the policy.
As such, OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya said investors were uninspired by today’s mixed economic data and third day of US banks reporting relatively strong earnings. – Bernama, July 16, 2021
