KUALA LUMPUR,. Bursa Malaysia opened sharply lower on the first trading day of 2023, taking its cue from the weaker Wall Street performance last Friday.
At 9.18am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid by 11.11 points to 1,484.38 from last Friday’s closing of 1,495.49. The market was closed yesterday as a replacement holiday for the New Year which fell on Sunday.
The market bellwether opened 6.95 points lower at 1,488.54.
On the broader market, losers edged past gainers 214 to 200 gainers, while 303 counters were unchanged, 1,498 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 744.51 million units worth RM150.58 million.
Rakuten Trade vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng expects the accumulation of stocks to persist as the market enters 2023 with fresh a portfolio, thus he foresees the index trending in the 1,490-1,500 range.
“Construction stocks should see some buying interests today as we have noticed the emergence of positive newsflow, while the oil and gas stocks may also attract buying interests with the Brent crude price trending near the US$86 (RM378.82) per barrel,” he said in a note.
Among the Bursa heavyweights, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM20.56, Maybank eased two sen to RM8.68, Public Bank slipped one sen to RM4.31, Petronas Chemicals shed seven sen to RM8.53, CIMB was four sen lower at RM5.76 and TNB dipped 19 sen to RM5.76.
As for the actives, ACE-market debutant L&P Global jumped 18 sen to 48 sen, Cypark and Vinvest Capital edged up half-a-sen each to 47.5 sen and 19.5 sen, respectively, Top Glove rose 1.5 sen to 92 sen, MMAG was flat at 2.5 sen and Berjaya Corp inched down half-a-sen to 29.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 56.15 points to 10,645.40, the FBMT 100 Index went down 59.32 points to 10,360.48, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index narrowed 79.83 points to 10,858.72.
Meanwhile, the FBM 70 Index ticked up 4.39 points to 13,019.41 and the FBM ACE Index added 3.81 points to 5,312.14.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 41.36 points to 16.459.95, the Plantation Index dwindled 64.86 points to 7,019.82, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.63 of-a-point to 181.15, while the Energy Index grew 3.68 points to 779.87. ― Bernama
