Bursa slips in early trade amid rising geopolitical risk
KUALA LUMPUR : Bursa Malaysia trended lower in early trade today as investors turned wary amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, an analyst said.
At 9.07am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 13.03 points, or 0.87% to 1,489.71 from Friday's close of 1,502.74.
The benchmark index opened 9.55 points lower at 1,493.19.
The broader market was negative, with 479 decliners thumping 72 gainers, 217 counters were unchanged, while 1,664 were untraded and 39 suspended.
Turnover stood at 246.13 million shares worth RM128 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed mixed on Friday due to uncertainty over interest rate cuts. At the same time, further escalation in the Middle East may weigh on market sentiment in the near term.
'With the US involvement in the war against Iran last Saturday, it would be interesting to see the market's reaction today.
'Given the possible heightened volatility, we expect the index to hover within the 1,480-1,500 range today and would be buyers of blue chips at the 1,480 level,' he noted.
Among heavyweights, Maybank dropped seven sen to RM9.59, Public Bank fell three sen to RM4.18, CIMB and CelcomDigi were each four sen lower at RM6.61 and RM3.75, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional and IHH were flat at RM14.22 and RM6.85, respectively.
Among the most active stocks, Hubline, SFP Tech and Malayan United all lost half-a-sen to four sen, 20.5 sen and five sen, respectively. MYEG slipped 1.5 sen to 89 sen, while Hibiscus Petroleum gained 10 sen to RM1.81.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shaved 114.56 points to 11,114.43, the FBMT 100 Index shrank 112.98 points to 10,902.47, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 122.67 points to 11,078.67.
The FBM 70 Index dipped 242.17 points to 15,875.58 and the FBM ACE Index dropped 52.87 points to 4,347.98.
By sector, the Financial Services Index shed 105.37 points to 17,363.01, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.62 points to 145.65, and the Plantation Index narrowed 45.92 points to 7,174.60.
However, the Energy Index rose 13.33 points to 749.04.
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