KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened easier on Tuesday as cautious market sentiment continue to weigh on investors’ risk appetite ahead of the six state elections this weekend.

At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.12 points to 1,442.69 from 1,445.81 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 1.6 points lower at 1,444.21.

On the broader market, gainers and losers were almost equal at 113 to 118, while 243 counters were unchanged, 1,816 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 173.89 million units worth RM58.11 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note that the local bourse ended relatively unchanged yesterday as investors are staying on the sidelines ahead of this weekend’s state elections.

The securities firm expects the muted trading sentiment to extend in the coming days on the back of the absence of fresh leads.

“The lower liners may also experience similar movement as uncertainty over the outcome of the state elections persists.

“Going forward, the key focus will be on the release of Malaysia’s industrial production data later today,” it said.

Malacca Securities added that the improved market sentiment on Wall Street might see mild upsides permeating towards stocks across Bursa.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the market undertone remained strong in view of persistent accumulation on blue chips.

“As we enter into corporate earnings season for the second quarter, we reckon the focus may shift to the banks, telcos and utilities as consensus are expecting these to chart decent earnings growth this year.

“Thus, we anticipate the index to trend within the 1,445 and 1,455 range today,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and Tenaga added one sen each to RM4.14 and RM9.57, CIMB shed two sen to RM5.50, Petronas Chemicals lost four sen to RM6.81, while Maybank was flat at RM8.92.

Of the actives, Classita slipped half-a-sen to 13 sen, VSolar gained 2.5 sen to 31 sen, while Tanco, Alam Maritim and Velesto were flat at 55.5 sen, 3.0 sen and 24 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 19.66 points for 10,598.35, the FBMT 100 Index fell 19.29 points to 10,292.35, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 17.39 points to 10,843.94, and the FBM 70 Index shaved 13.32 points to 13,893.89.

The FBM ACE Index, however, gained 2.49 points to 5,255.88,

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dumped 47.02 points to 16,125.23, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.42 of-a-point to 166.04, the Plantation Index decreased 23.16 points to 7,087.39 while the Energy Index added 1.78 points to 831.32. – BERNAMA / pic TMR FILE