KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened easier today on the back of window dressing activities.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.09 points or 0.38% to 1,608.09 from Monday’s close of 1,614.18.
The index opened 0.35 of-a-point weaker at 1,613.83.
In the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 126 to 94, while 190 counters remained unchanged, 1,567 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 112.74 million shares worth RM50.51 mil.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the key index may continue to play catch-up with the gains across regional peers for the year as the local bourse was still in the negative territory year-to-date.
It added that buying momentum on the FBM KLCI appeared not to be easing anytime soon and is likely to trend higher, charging towards the 1,621 level and upwards to the 1,637 level as the market approaches the mid-week holiday break.
“In the interim, we reckon that a pullback is due as the key index is hovering in the overbought zone. A pullback will be healthy for investors to digest their recent gains with the support pegged at the 1,595 level,” it said in a note today.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.05% to 3,214, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.02% to 23,824.8 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.13% 27,906.41.
Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, MISC increased two sen to RM8.57, CIMB and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM5.27 and RM5.64, respectively, Maybank eased two sen to RM8.60, Public Bank shed 16 sen to RM19.88 and TNB slipped eight sen to RM13.46.
Of the actives, MCT went up 2.5 sen to 34 sen, Mudajaya improved three sen to 41 sen, I-Stone rose one sen to 25.5 sen, GDB was 1.5 sen higher at 61 sen, while Tiger Synergy and Rimbunan Sawit were flat at 10.5 sen and 36.5 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index eased 36.17 points to 11,393.61, the FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 39.01 points to 12,030.39 while the FBMT 100 Index shed 37.14 points to 11,195.74.
The FBM Ace, however, advanced 15.24 points to 5,081.68 but the FBM 70 weakened 25.07 points to 14,088.87.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 42.4 points to 15,580.14, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.39 of-a-point to 153.55 while the Plantation Index declined 27.66 points to 7,558.83. – Dec 24, 2019, Bernama
