Bursa Malaysia Starts Lower, Impacted By Wall Street's Performance

By Karina Imran

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning, weighed down by Wall Street's lacklustre performance, according to an analyst.

At 9.15 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.24 points to 1,640.29, down from Wednesday's close of 1,641.53.

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The benchmark index opened 2.48 points lower at 1,639.05.

On the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers, with 228 counters declining compared to 103 advancing, while 297 remained unchanged. A total of 1,874 stocks were untraded and nine were suspended.

Turnover stood at 189.62 million units, valued at RM86.68 million.

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Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng, said Wall Street closed sharply lower as higher Treasury yields weighed on market sentiment. 

As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 410 points, while the Nasdaq declined by 300 points. The US 10-year yield was higher at 4.24 per cent.

"At home, the FBM KLCI's performance remained subdued, closing almost flat and erasing earlier gains amid a lacklustre session. We believe such a trading pattern will persist in the absence of catalysts," he told Bernama.

Thong anticipates the index to trend between the 1,635 and 1,645 range today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare remained flat at RM10.62 and RM7.21, respectively.

Meanwhile, Public Bank declined two sen to RM4.53, CIMB Group eased one sen to RM8.17, and Tenaga Nasional added two sen to RM14.44.

As for the active counters, Ingenieur Gudang, Barakah Offshore Petroleum, and Hubline were flat at 5.5 sen, four sen, and 7.5 sen, respectively.

In contrast, Capital A slipped 1.5 sen to 97.5 sen, and Dagang NeXchange inched up half-a-sen to 35.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 10.65 points to 12,357.60, the FBM 70 Index dropped 20.17 points to 17,835.50, the FBM ACE Index lost 0.92 points to 5,094.46, the FBMT 100 Index slid 10.43 points to 12,060.77, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 6.91 points to 12,280.08.

By sector, the Financial Services Index decreased by 9.20 points to 19,507.36, the Energy Index shaved 4.09 points to 857.70, the Plantation Index dipped 8.17 points to 7,280.00, and the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 0.56 of-a-point to 176.70.

-- BERNAMA