BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS LOWER AMID WALL STREET'S MIXED PERFORMANCE

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s key index opened lower today amid Wall Street’s mixed performance last Friday, with market sentiment remaining bullish due to expectations of a rate cut.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 9.66 points to 1,603.59 from Friday’s close of 1,613.25. 

The index opened 2.63 points lower at 1,610.62.

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Market breadth was flat, with both gainers and losers at 201, while 367 counters were unchanged, 1,707 untraded, and 13 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 318.51 million units valued at RM135.22 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the US 10-year yield eased to 4.149 per cent.

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"Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index jumped to almost the 20,000 mark as traders are gearing up for the Chinese economic policy meeting scheduled sometime this month to revive domestic consumption and tackle the trade war with the United States," he told Bernama. 

Back home, while the FBM KLCI took a breather to close lower last Friday after a three-day uptrend, Thong remained hopeful that accumulation of stocks would continue.

"Though the index is still stuck within the consolidation phase, we remain hopeful that accumulation of stocks would continue as the local bourse is currently hovering at alluring valuations of 14.5 times price-earnings ratio (PER) based on 2025 figures.

"As such, we expect the index to hover within the 1,615-1,625 range today," he said. 

Among heavyweights, Maybank eased 4.0 sen to RM10.12, Public Bank slid 2.0 sen to RM4.56, CIMB went down 17.0 sen to RM8.00, Tenaga Nasional fell 6.0 sen to RM13.46 and IHH Healthcare was 5.0 sen lower at RM7.27. 

As for the active stocks, Datasonic added 3.5 sen to 44 sen, Aizo inched down half-a-sen to 13.5 sen, Leong Hup International shed 3.0 sen to 61 sen, while Zen Tech and Top Glove were flat at 1.0 sen and RM1.32 respectively.  

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 46.51 points to 12,300.39, the FBMT 100 Index shrank 49.68 points to 11,978.02, but the FBM 70 Index expanded 5.42 points up to 18,405.63. 

The FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 23.17 points to 12,299.96, and the FBM ACE Index increased by 6.61 points to 5,313.80.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 104.39 points to 19,061.22, the Plantation Index weakened 26.98 points to 7,713.28, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.36 of-a-point to 175.44, but the Energy Index rose 0.05 of-a-point to 829.18.

-- BERNAMA