Bursa opens higher but retreats on profit-taking
KUALA LUMPUR : Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher but retreated thereafter, weighed down by mild profit-taking in selected heavyweights as Wall Street slipped following the latest US tariff threats against the European Union (EU), analysts said.
At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.93 points or 0.12% to 1,533.45 from Friday's close of 1,535.38.
The benchmark index opened 0.95 of-a-point higher at 1,536.33.
Market breadth was negative with 227 decliners and 122 gainers, while 329 counters were unchanged, 1,752 untraded and 42 suspended.
Turnover stood at 237.79 million shares valued at RM97.58 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said sentiment was once again unsettled by the ongoing 'de-escalation' and 're-escalation' of trade tensions, following the tariff threats against the EU, including a proposed 50% tariff on all imports from the EU, and 25% on i-Phones not made in the US.
'On the local market, we suspect that foreign funds may return as buyers after several days of selling.
'For today, we expect the index to trend cautiously within the 1,525-1,540 range,' he added.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the local bourse to start the week positively following US President Donald Trump's extension of the EU tariff deadline, despite the weaker performance on Wall Street.
'Market attention will also be on the Asean Summit over the next two days,' it said in a note today.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM9.89, CIMB climbed two sen to RM6.96. IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM6.88, while Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM4.40 and RM14 respectively.
For active stocks, Harvest Miracle and OCR Group were flat at 18 sen and 3.5 sen respectively, Eco-Shop slid one sen to RM1.19, Oppstar dropped seven sen to 44 sen, and Sarawak Cable eased half-a-sen to 1.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 20.13 points to 11,453.92, the FBMT 100 Index shaved 18.97 points to 11,214.13, and the FBM ACE Index went down 18.64 points to 4,597.30.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 27.89 points to 11,398.32, and the FBM 70 Index gave up 46.85 points to 16,303.41.
Across sectors, the Financial Services Index was 7.75 points better at 18,110.33, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.47 of-a-point to 153.57, the Energy Index was flat at 710.77, and the Plantation Index fell 15.53 points to 7,314.78.
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