KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today, taking its cue from Wall Street’s mixed overnight performance as sentiments were affected by the United States’ rising treasury yields ahead of key US gross domestic product and inflation data to be released today and tomorrow, said an analyst.
At 9.23am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) marginally increased by 0.35 of-a-point to 1,571.83 from yesterday’s close of 1,571.48. The benchmark index opened 1.81 points better at 1,573.29.
However, on the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers by 285 to 224, while 316 counters were unchanged, 1,541 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 574.29 million units worth RM196.19 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 43 points, while the Nasdaq declined by 11 points as the US Treasury’s 10-year yield rose to 4.648%.
He said Wall Street may also be further impacted by the less-than-inspiring earnings reports, including from Meta and IBM.
At the same time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index broke the 17,000 threshold to close at a five-month high on optimism that corporate earnings will pick up.
“Notwithstanding the choppy performance in US stocks, we reckon foreign funds may be forced to relook at Southeast Asian markets, which offer better value propositions.
“As we enter the first quarter earnings season, corporate Malaysia is forecast to churn out a decent 16% earnings growth for 2024. Hence, we expect the index to range between 1,565 and 1,580 today,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB added 2.0 sen to RM6.69 and Tenaga Nasional went down 2.0 sen to RM11.84, while Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM9.80, RM4.25 and RM6.88, respectively.
As for the actives, Berjaya Corporation edged up 2.0 sen to 30.5 sen and KGW rose by 1.0 sen to 22 sen, while Ekovest slid 1.0 sen to 45 sen, Iconic Worldwide eased half-a-sen to 8.5 sen and Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM emas index gained 1.27 points to 11,801.76, the FBMT 100 index put on 2.33 points to 11,437.71 and the FBM 70 index was 2.33 points higher at 16,384.64, while the FBM ACE index shed 18.30 points to 5,048.51, and the FBM emas shariah index fell 4.08 points to 11,970.79.
Sector-wise, the financial services index was up by 8.18 points to 17,394.24 and the energy index widened 1.90 points to 975.70, while the industrial products and services index edged down 0.29 of-a-point to 187.51, and the plantation index lost 4.04 points to 7,429.50. – April 25, 2024