Bursa Malaysia Opens Slightly Higher But Retreats Thereafter
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher on Monday but retreated thereafter as investors traded cautiously amid intermittent profit-taking.
At 9.07 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 4.56 points to 1,720.34 from last Friday’s close of 1,724.90.
The benchmark index opened 0.36 point higher at 1,725.26.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 202 to 140, while 314 counters were unchanged, 2,074 were untraded and 20 suspended.
Turnover stood at 155.82 million shares valued at RM63.19 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI edged to a one-week high supported by bargain hunting last week, tracking Wall Street’s positive performance despite rising US Treasury yields.
“On the home front, the FBM KLCI edged to a one-week high supported by broad-based bargain hunting.
“Nonetheless, we noticed the market sentiment remains cautious amid intermittent profit-taking activities last Friday,” he said in a note.
Hence, he said the key index is expected to hover within the 1,720-1,735 range today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga edged down two sen each to RM10.88 and RM14.58, respectively, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were one sen lower each to RM5.16 and RM8.34 and CIMB Group was half-a-sen lower to RM7.84.
Among active stocks, Hubline and Advance Energy inched down half-a-sen each to three sen and 65 sen, respectively, while Swift Energy Technology edged up one sen to 25.5 sen, NexG and VS Industry gained half-a-sen each to 28 sen and 23.5 sen, respectively.
Leading gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which climbed 48 sen to RM46.48, UMS Integration added 17 sen to RM7.52, KESM Industries rose 10 sen to RM4.42, Texchem Resources and MISC were seven sen higher each to RM1.06 and RM8.06, respectively.
On the losers' list, Petronas Chemicals fell 16 sen to RM4.62, Time Dotcom declined eight sen to RM5.92, Press Metal Aluminium fell seven sen to RM7.89, while Kim Hin Industry and HeiTech Padu were six sen lower each to 82 sen and RM1.24, respectively.
Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index reduced 27.63 points to 12,724.16, the FBM Top 100 Index lost 29.74 points to 12,555.37, and the FBM Mid 70 Index fell 27.82 points to 18,107.96.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index retreated 30.82 points to 12,565.47, while the FBM ACE Index climbed 14.05 points to 4,988.73.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.69 points to 187.05 and the Energy Index slid 3.93 points to 761.79, while the Financial Services Index fell 26.69 points to 20,300.95 and the Plantation Index slipped 5.46 points to 9,283.11.
-- BERNAMA