BURSA MALAYSIA OPENS HIGHER, RETREATS ON MIXED WALL STREET CUES

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, but gains were short-lived, tracking the mixed overnight performance on Wall Street as investors stayed on the sidelines amid a lack of fresh leads.

At 9.15 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.49 points or 0.14 per cent to 1,685.41 from Monday’s close of 1,687.90. The key index opened 6.39 points firmer at 1,694.29.

Market breadth was negative with 192 losers leading 165 gainers. A total of 355 counters were unchanged, 1,955 untraded, and 60 suspended.

Turnover stood at 169.17 million shares worth RM150.99 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the US market ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Index (+0.11 per cent) exiting the correction territory, while the Nasdaq (-0.73 per cent) and S&P 500 (-0.39 per cent) fell.

“Overall, we are of the view that market participants are increasingly pricing in the prospect of a protracted conflict and disruptions to energy supplies, despite US President Donald Trump’s deferment of the threat to destroy Iran’s power infrastructure,” it said in a note.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB rose two sen each to RM11.22 and RM7.50, respectively. Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.65, Tenaga Nasional slid eight sen to RM14.08, while IHH Healthcare added six sen to RM8.96.

On the most active list, Sunway Healthcare lost four sen to RM2.05, TWL was flat at 2.5 sen, AirAsia X added one sen to RM1.09, Perak Transit increased half a sen to 22 sen, and Vantris Energy was two sen higher at 39.5 sen.

Among the top gainers, United Plantations rose 46 sen to RM34.06, Sarawak Oil inched up 14 sen to RM4.61, United Malacca put on 10 sen to RM5.90, and Concrete Engineering surged eight sen to RN1.85.

As for the top losers, PPB decreased 40 sen to RM11.26, Fraser & Neave slipped 30 sen to RM29.70, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 18 sen to RM21.30, and Petronas Dagangan was down 16 sen to RM22.00.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index shrank 16.06 points to 12,137.11, while the FBM Emas Index weakened 13.20 points to 12,265.53, and the FBM ACE Index lost 7.52 points to 4,237.27.

The FBM 70 Index dropped 14.05 points to 16,803.19, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 20.45 points to 12,131.80.

By sector, the Financial Services Index widened 10.63 points to 19,859.74, and the Plantation Index strengthened 49.81 points to 9,066.35. In comparison, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.10 points to 184.07, and the Energy Index fell 2.26 points to 805.78.

-- BERNAMA