BURSA MALAYSIA SOFTER ON OPENING DUE TO PROFIT-TAKING

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Monday, weighed down by spillover profit-taking from last week despite Wall Street closing higher last Friday.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 2.88 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 1,613.64 from last Friday’s close of 1,616.52.

The index had opened 0.49 points lower at 1,616.03.

The broader market was negative, with 162 losers outpacing 90 gainers. Another 275 counters were unchanged, 2,218 were untraded, and 19 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 86.49 million shares worth RM39.45 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that Wall Street finished higher last week as investors continued to cheer cooling inflation and the prospect of an impending Federal Reserve rate cut following several weaker-than-expected economic data releases.

As for the local bourse, Thong said he anticipated the FBM KLCI to continue oscillating between 1,610 and 1,630 today.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped 10 sen to RM10.08, CIMB Group eased eight sen to RM7.83, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were down three sen each to RM4.36 and RM8.37 respectively, while Tenaga Nasional was unchanged at RM12.64.

On the most active list, Capital A edged up one sen to 39 sen, while ACE market debutant BMS Holdings shed 3.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Land and General eased one sen to 14 sen, and both Velesto and Kinergy Advancement were flat at 25 sen and 38 sen respectively.

BMS Holdings’ price opened at 19.5 sen, a discount from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 22 sen.

Top gainers included Nestle, which strengthened RM1.60 to RM113.60, Quality Concrete added 16 sen to RM1.11, FCW gained nine sen to RM1.80, while United Plantations and Pentamaster improved eight sen each to RM28.52 and RM3.78, respectively.

Among the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries trimmed 66 sen to RM31.24, Petronas Dagangan weakened 52 sen to RM18.88, Hong Leong Bank slipped 30 sen to RM21.00, PPB gave up 20 sen to RM9.96, while Batu Kawan eased 20 sen to RM19.22.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 72.26 points to 11,889.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 53.75 points to 11,743.30, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 70.21 points to 11,673.61, and the FBM ACE Index fell 32.33 points to 4,783.81, while the FBM 70 Index contracted 46.01 points to 16,676.60.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index tumbled 164.33 points to 18,847.00, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.22 points to 165.56, and the Energy Index gave up 2.63 points to 755.91, while the Plantation Index declined 63.28 points to 8,032.97.

-- BERNAMA