The local bourse is expected to remain subdued on heightened volatility regionally despite Wall Street’s weak performance overnight

BURSA Malaysia traded lower in the early morning session amid Wall Street’s weak performance overnight. 

At 10.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 4.13 points to 1,406.74 from yesterday’s close of 1,410.87, after opening 3.55 points easier at 1,407.32.   

The market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 368 to 169, while 270 counters were unchanged, 1,591 untraded and 38 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 498.83 million units worth RM317.57 million.

In a note, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd VP (equity research) Thong Pak Leng said he expects trading on the local bourse to remain subdued on heightened volatility regionally.

“Nonetheless, we reckon some bargain hunting would emerge in financial stocks after a week of consecutive decline and anticipate the key index to trend within the 1,405-1,420 range today,” he added. 

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank Bhd added two sen to RM4.23 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd gained one sen to RM8.36, while IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM5.91, Malayan Banking Bhd and CIMB Group Holding Bhd both slid one sen to RM8.56 and RM5.11, respectively, and Tenaga Nasional Bhd declined three sen to RM8.69.  

Of the actives, PT Resources Holdings Bhd rose 3.5 sen to 40.5 sen, Velesto Energy Bhd was flat at 11.5 sen, Cnergenz Bhd fell four sen to RM1.08 and LGMS Bhd went down one sen RM1.23. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index narrowed 30.3 points to 10,049.64, the FBM 70 dwindled 34.83 points to 12,212.48 and the FBM T100 Index contracted 28.51 points to 9,795. 

The FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank by 25.24 points to 10,151.32, while the FBM ACE reduced by 33.06 points to 4,675.32.   

Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 7.02 points easier at 680.13, the Plantation Index went down 36.55 points to 6,543.53, the Financial Services Index lost 53.24 points to 15,901.32, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.5 of-a-point to 171,19. — Bernama / TMRpic