KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Bursa Malaysia started the day weaker as some investors continued to take profit, reflecting the cautious sentiment in most regional markets.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.42 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 1,577.34 compared with Monday’s close of 1,582.76. The benchmark index opened 2.54 points lower at 1,580.22.
In the broader market, decliners led gainers 161 to 96, while 236 counters were unchanged, 1,832 untraded and 10 suspended. Turnover stood at 233.74 million units worth RM81.98 million.
The US stock market was closed for President’s Day yesterday and will resume trading today.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said more corporate earnings will be reported over the next two weeks and that “based on our estimates, we believe earnings growth for the fourth quarter of 2024 to be good as we forecast at a 16.9 per cent improvement for the calendar year 2024.”
“Thus, we reckon yesterday’s lacklustre performance may be an opening for some bargain-hunting activities, hence expect the index to hover within the 1,580-1,590 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank lost 16 sen to RM10.40, CIMB eased one sen to RM8.29 and Tenaga Nasional dropped four sen to RM13.88. Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.49 and IHH Healthcare bagged four sen to RM7.29.
ACE Market debutant Techstore led the active counters, rallying 4.5 sen to 24.5 sen while Ingenieur Gudang and Widad Group were flat at 5.5 sen and four sen, respectively. Harvest Miracle and CME Group were both half-a-sen lower at 14.5 sen and one sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index deducted 24.42 points to 12,020.70, the FBMT 100 Index was 27.32 points lower at 11,724.64 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 11.72 points to 11,762.11. The FBM 70 Index went up 9.50 points to 17,801.17 but the FBM ACE Index erased 10.91 points to 5,118.04.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 15.85 points lower at 7,417.09, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.56 of a point to 163.36. The Financial Services Index shrank 68.28 points to 19,221.20, and the Energy Index shaved 0.23 of-a-point to 798.06. — Bernama
