Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower Amid Continued Profit-taking
By Karina Imran
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower on Wednesday, with continued profit-taking capping gains despite an overnight rebound on Wall Street, an analyst said.
At 9.15 am, the benchmark index fell 6.58 points to 1,713.79 from Tuesday's close of 1,720.37.
The index opened 0.53 points easier at 1,719.84.
Across the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 237 to 153, while 364 counters were unchanged, 1,993 remained untraded and 23 were suspended.
Turnover totalled 280.69 million shares worth RM121.98 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street rallied as all three major indices ended broadly higher, led by the resurgence in semiconductor stocks and upbeat corporate earnings, which offset geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield edged higher to 4.626 per cent amid higher crude oil prices.
"Back home, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined but was off the day’s low at 1,712 before intermittent bargain-hunting activities re-emerged.
"As such, we expect the index to trend between the 1,715 and 1,730 range today," he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank eased six sen to RM10.96, Public Bank and CIMB Group inched down by three sen each to RM5.17 and RM7.65, respectively, Tenaga Nasional dropped eight sen to RM14.48, and IHH Healthcare declined five sen to RM8.45.
Among active stocks, AIMAX Bhd was flat at one sen, Nexgram Holdings inched up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, while Tanco, V.S Industry and P. A Resources added one sen each to 32.5 sen, 26 sen and 21 sen, respectively.
Among top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries surged 56 sen to RM47.40, Fraser & Neave Holdings soared 24 sen to RM29.04, KESM Industries increased 11 sen to RM4.19, Wesports Holdings grew by 10 sen to RM6.60 and Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing climbed nine sen to RM3.65.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong led the losers, falling 28 sen to RM20.86. United Plantations slid 26 sen to RM33.48, Petronas Dagangan trimmed 12 sen to RM19.38 and SD Guthrie gave up 10 sen to RM6.52.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index shed 29.24 points to 12,680.52, the FBMT Top 100 Index declined 35.06 points to 12,503.07, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 14.42 points to 12,530.03.
The FBM Mid 70 Index improved 4.75 points to 18,013.53 and the FBM ACE Index garnered 16.30 points to 4,983.16.
By sector, the Financial Services Index slipped 87.26 points to 20,212.87, the Plantation Index shed 74.72 points to 9,282.28, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.56 of a point to 187.80, and the Energy Index put on 6.55 points to 776.95.
Meanwhile, trading in the securities of Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd was temporarily halted from 9 am to 10 am today.
-- BERNAMA