At 9.05am, the local bourse eased 0.52 of-a-point to 1,453.57

BURSA Malaysia’s key index saw another round of mild selling in some banking, plantation and telecommunications heavyweights during the opening session this morning. 

At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.52 of-a-point to 1,453.57 compared to yesterday’s close of 1,454.09.

The key index opened 0.45 of-a-point higher at 1,454.54.

The broader market saw 135 gainers and 103 losers, while 207 counters were unchanged, 1,924 untraded and 83 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 87 million units valued at RM39 million. 

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the negative sentiment from Wall Street and the interest rate hike by the European Central Bank may spill over to the local front and the FBM KLCI could have limited upside potential for the near term.

Wall Street closed mixed with the Dow Jones recording its fifth-day winning streak, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq sank on the lacklustre earnings from several technology firms such as Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc.

As for commodities, Brent crude oil price continued to climb above the US$96 (RM452.16) per barrel mark, while the crude palm oil price sustained above RM4,100, hence set to benefit oil and gas-related and plantation counters.

As such, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd VP (equity research) Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI is likely to trend in the 1,450-1,470 range today.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd lost two sen to RM8.66 and RM2.74, respectively, Maxis Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd fell by six sen to RM3.74 and RM22.14, respectively, Petronas Gas Bhd shed 14 sen to RM17.02 and Digi.Com Bhd slid five sen to RM3.70.

On the other hand, IHH Healthcare Bhd went up eight sen to RM6, while Mr DIY Group (M) Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd gained two sen to RM1.98, 8.31 and RM2.10, respectively.

Among the actives, Top Builders Capital Bhd lost one sen to two sen, UEM Sunrise Bhd dwindled half-a-sen to 20.5 sen and SNS Network Technology improved half-a-sen to 24.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index reduced by 2.58 points to 10,310.99, the FBM 70 added 10.76 points to 12,261.92 and the FBM T100 Index decreased 0.71 of-a-point to 10,052.88.    

The FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 1.32 points to 10,345.41, while the FBM ACE narrowed 20.60 points to 4,842.59.    

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 11.49 points to 16,468.42 and the Energy Index weakened 2.04 points to 699.63, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.1 of-a-point to 175.27, and the Plantation Index lost 3.96 points to 6,915.09. — Bernama / pic TMR