Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower On Profit-taking Amid Geopolitical Uncertainties
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Wednesday, weighed down by profit-taking following the previous session’s gains, amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainties.
At 9.04 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 4.38 points to 1,728.98, from Tuesday’s close of 1,733.36.
The benchmark index opened 1.39 points lower at 1,731.97.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 219 to 101, while 256 counters were unchanged, 2,297 untraded, and 16 suspended.
Turnover stood at 116.63 million shares valued at RM53.77 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said in a note today that investors remained cautious as the market progresses into the corporate earnings season.
“We have noticed that corporate earnings thus far have been encouraging, especially for the planters.
“However, we prefer to stay vigilant and anticipate the index to hover between the 1,725-1,735 range today,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was down by two sen to RM10.60, CIMB Group inched down three sen to RM7.92, Tenaga Nasional lost six sen to RM14.36, IHH Healthcare slid eight sen to RM8.07, while Public Bank was flat at RM5.11.
On the most active list, TWL Holdings and GIIB Holdings were flat at 2.5 sen and 39.5 sen, respectively, while Zetrix AI edged up 1.5 sen to 65 sen, Pentech Holdings gained three sen to 32 sen, and Lotte Chemical Titan Holdings rose five sen to 36 sen.
Among top gainers, Dutch Lady Milk Industries surged RM1 to RM32.50, Hong Leong Bank added 20 sen to RM22.80, KPJ Healthcare climbed nine sen to RM3.11, Hengyuan Refining Company and ITMAX System grew five sen each to RM1.99 and RM4.50, respectively.
As for the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries and Allianz Malaysia shed 18 sen each to RM47.84 and RM22, respectively. Kelington Group and Vitrox Corporation reduced 12 sen each to RM8.88 and RM9.32, respectively. Johor Plantations Group gave up nine sen to RM1.96.
Among the broader indices, the FBM 70 Index dropped by 21.84 points to 18,189.82, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was down by 31.28 points to 12,635.46, and the FBM Emas Index weakened by 27.74 points to 12,801.96.
The FBM Top 100 Index shrank 27.69 points to 12,616.85, and the FBM ACE Index decreased 13.56 points to 5,287.62.
By sector, the Energy Index was higher by 0.46 of-a-point to 778.87. The Plantation Index trimmed 13.84 points to 9,362.84, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.41 of-a-point to 189.02, and the Financial Services Index lost 18.11 points to 20,289.88.
-- BERNAMA