KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Friday, dragged down by profit-taking in heavyweight counters amid cautious sentiment across regional markets.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.42 points to 1,629.85 from Thursday’s close of 1,632.27, after opening 1.46 points weaker at 1,630.81.
Market breadth was negative, with decliners outnumbering gainers 347 to 77, while 247 counters were unchanged, 2,067 remained untraded, and 10 were suspended.
Turnover stood at 157.03 million shares valued at RM97.07 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that Wall Street recorded its worst day in over a month as a tech sell-off intensified, while investors grew cautious over the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate outlook, with expectations that rate cuts might slow.
The brokerage said concerns over Fed interest rate cuts, compounded by weaker-than-expected US October unemployment data, contributed to the sell-off in the US market and could weigh on local sentiment.
“However, we expect ringgit strength to provide opportunities in domestic-driven sectors such as banking, consumer, construction, and utilities,” it said in a research note.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank fell one sen to RM9.94 and RM4.29, respectively. Tenaga Nasional decreased two sen to RM13.48, while CIMB was flat at RM7.57. IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM8.26.
On the most active list, Pharmaniaga and JCY lost one sen each to 25 sen and 37 sen, respectively; VS Industry and MMAG slipped half a sen to 50 sen and 7.5 sen, respectively, while Insights remained flat at RM1.01.
Top gainers included Dutch Lady, up RM1.40 to RM30.00; MI Technovation, up 19 sen to RM3.27; Petronas Dagangan, up 14 sen to RM22.58; MBM Resources, up five sen to RM5.23; and United Plantations, up four sen to RM26.04.
Top losers included Malaysian Pacific, down 12 sen to RM30.48; VSTecs, down 11 sen to RM4.28; Hong Leong Bank, down 10 sen to RM20.88; and Vitrox, down nine sen to RM4.37.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index shed 24.39 points to 11,847.95, the FBM Emas Index declined 27.09 points to 12,086.43, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 31.90 points to 12,099.06.
The FBM ACE Index slumped 39.88 points to 5,032.72, while the FBM Mid 70 Index weakened 64.55 points to 16,902.36.
By sector, the Plantation Index narrowed 2.48 points to 8,153.37, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.63 of-a-point to 167.88, the Financial Services Index fell 30.81 points to 18,435.12, and the Energy Index gave up 3.39 points to 753.42.
-- BERNAMA
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