KUALA LUMPUR: There was some profit-taking as Bursa Malaysia opened for trading on Tuesday with expectations that investors will stay cautious ahead of the state elections later this week.
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Malacca Securities Research noted the uncertainty stemming from the upcoming polls, adding there was an absence of fresh leads to spur trading.
“Going forward, the key focus will be on the release of Malaysia’s industrial production data later today.
“Meanwhile, the improved market sentiment on Wall Street may see mild upsides permeating towards stocks across Bursa Exchange,” it said in a note.
At 9am, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 1.6 points to 1,444.21 as it hovered sideways above the 200-day simple moving average.
Bank counters remained mostly unchanged although Hong Leong Bank slipped 14 sen to RM19.52.
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In plantations, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 12 sen to RM23.46.
Tenaga Nasional shed four sen to RM9.52 and PETRONAS Chemicals dipped four sen to RM6.81.
Meanwhile, there was some positive movement in PETRONAS Dagangan up 34 sen to RM22.98 and IHH rising five sen to RM5.98.
Top actives were Classita down 0.5 sen to 13 sen, Tanco unchanged at 55.5 sen and VSolar up three sen to 31.5 sen.
– The Star