KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s profit-taking to open lower in most indices led by technology, tracking the lower close in Nasdaq Composite on Wall Street, analysts said.
At 9.12am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 9.89 points easier at 1,557.55 compared to 1,567.44 at yesterday’s close.
The benchmark index opened 2.54 points weaker at 1,564.90.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 307 versus 92, while 221 counters were unchanged, 1,681 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 155.91 million units valued at RM103.60 million.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said the Nasdaq, which was down by 262 points, closed in a technical bear market for the first time since March 2020.
A decline in China’s stocks following the latest uptick in Covid-19 cases and new lockdowns weigh on global risk appetite, he said in a note today.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said for the local equity market today, it is reckoned that the benchmark index would trend higher, attributed to continuous support from foreign funds.
“The FBM KLCI is expected to move within the 1,560-1,580 range,” he said.
On commodities, profit-taking activities saw the crude palm oil price dipped below the RM7,000 per tonne level while the Brent crude price dropped to US$107 per barrel on the back of another lockdown in Shenzhen, China.
On a separate development, the ringgit opened slightly weaker against the stronger US dollar after the latest strong economic data amidst rising inflationary pressures further suggests that the Fed is on track to gradually remove the monetary policy accommodation.
At 9am, the local currency declined to 4.2055/2090 versus the greenback from 4.2050/2075 at yesterday’s close. – Bernama, March 15, 2022
