KUALA LUMPUR (June 1): Bursa Malaysia reversed Tuesday’s gains to open lower on profit-taking, drawing its cue from choppy trading on Wall Street.
-Advertisement-
At 9.10am on Wednesday (June 1), the FBM KLCI had slipped 12.47 points to 1,557.63 from Tuesday’s close at 1,570.10.
The benchmark index opened 6.70 points weaker at 1,563.40.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 201 to 171, while 238 counters were unchanged, 1,633 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 250.57 million units worth RM162.12 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said US equities slumped over fears of inflation and slower economic growth as the world was already grappling with a food crisis.
The Dow Jones Index Average lost 223 points, while the Nasdaq declined by almost 50 points.
On the back of such a backdrop, the US 10-year yield closed higher at the 2.85% mark.
-Advertisement-
As for the local bourse, Thong said a sudden surge in foreign buying saw the KLCI close higher after being in negative territory for most of Tuesday.
“However, we reckon some profit-taking activities may set in and expect the index to trend within the 1,560-1,575 range today (Wednesday),” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Thong said crude palm oil prices declined to around RM6,600 per tonne in line with weaker soybean prices but crude oil prices maintained their uptrend with Brent crude inching closer to the US$113 (about RM495.43) per barrel level following the partial ban on Russian oil by the European Union.
Among the heavyweights, both Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost 10 sen to RM9.0 and RM10.16 respectively, Public Bank Bhd fell eight sen to RM4.65, IHH Healthcare Bhd slid nine sen to RM6.61 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd decreased two sen to 5.13.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy Bhd slipped one sen to 7.5 sen, while Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd added two sen to 12 sen, Genting Bhd rose 28 sen to RM5.03, WZ Satu Bhd gained one sen to 22 sen and Focus Dynamics Group Bhd was flat at three sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE dropped 0.86 of a point to 5,184.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index down 60.80 points to 11,448.83, the FBM Emas Index declined 68.71 points to 11,083.19, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 71.59 points to 10,786.92 and the FBM 70 weakened 27.52 points to 13,211.60.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.86 points weaker at 201.35, the Plantation Index dipped 31.25 points to 7,932.73 and the Financial Services Index dropped 166.80 points to 16,743.89.-BERNAMA