KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia turned mixed this morning amid range-bound cautious trading despite the Wall Street’s uptrend overnight, a dealer said.
At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.04 points to 1,413.80 from Wednesday’s closing of 1,415.84.
The index opened 2.40 points lower at 1,413.44.
However, on the broader market, gainers beat decliners 155 to 138, while 254 counters were unchanged, 1,741 untraded and 15 suspended.
Turnover stood at 173.19 million units worth RM71.21 million.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said with Wall Street turning more positive overnight, buying interest is likely to spill over to the local bourse later, especially within the technology sector; while the energy sector will be under pressure amidst the plunge in Brent crude prices.
At the same time, it said investors may still stake their position ahead of the Budget 2024 announcement next week, focusing on domestic-driven catalysts in the near term in light of the National Energy Transition Roadmap and the New Industrial Master Plan.
“Trading activities may also emerge within the construction, building materials and property sectors,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.73, Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.06, CIMB added two sen to RM5.42, Tenaga Nasional slipped three sen to RM9.93 and Petronas Chemicals lost five sen to RM7.05.
Of the actives, KNM and Tanco rose half-a-sen to 17 sen and 55 sen, respectively, Ekovest improved by 1.5 sen to 55 sen and Sarawak Consolidated climbed one sen to 48.5 sen, while Bumi Armada shed half-a-sen to 53.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 9.10 points to 10,484.73, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 10.60 points to 10,154.15, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 22.08 points to 10,760.0.
The FBM ACE Index declined 2.86 points to 5,117.56, while the FBM 70 Index recovered 3.23 points to 13,999.93.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased by 0.22 of-a-point to 169.89, the Energy Index gave up 9.73 points to 848.32 and the Plantation Index fell 18.46 points to 6,807.37, while the Financial Services Index went up 12.54 points to 15,844.67. – BERNAMA / pic TMR FILE