KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today tracking continued weakness on Wall Street as the prolonged US-Iran conflict and high crude oil prices weighed on sentiment, an analyst said.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.73 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 1,701.79 from Thursday’s close of 1,705.52.
The index opened 0.23 points lower at 1,705.29.
Market breadth was subdued, with losers outnumbering gainers 256 to 164. A total of 295 counters were unchanged, 2,116 untraded and 32 suspended.
Turnover stood at 283.38 million shares worth RM144.77 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the benchmark index’s performance was also in line with weaker regional markets, which experienced broad-based selling amid ongoing tensions in West Asia with no immediate end in sight.
“The ongoing tension in West Asia also sees crude oil prices rise to new highs, with Brent crude going above US$105 per barrel,” he told Bernama.
On the home front, Thong said the FBM KLCI finally slipped to near the 1,700 level as foreign selling accelerated.
“As such, the local bourse remains firmly stuck in a correction mode for now. Thus, we anticipate the index to stay sideways within the 1,700 – 1,710 range today,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose 2.0 sen to RM10.48, Public Bank was flat at RM4.85, while CIMB and Tenaga Nasional eased 2.0 sen each to RM7.90 and RM13.70 respectively, and IHH Healthcare lost 8.0 sen to RM7.81.
Actively traded stocks included Top Glove, which gained 1.5 sen to 78 sen, Luster Industries remained unchanged at 3.5 sen, Silver Ridge rose 1.0 sen to 15.5 sen, while Zetrix AI and Supermax advanced half a sen to 25.5 sen each to 25.5 sen and 43.5 sen, respectively.
The top gainers were led by Henyuan Refining, which increased by 13 sen to RM3.52, while Petronas Chemicals and Kerjaya Prospek gained 7.0 sen each to RM4.89 and RM3.59, respectively. Ta Ann was 6.0 sen higher to RM6.26, and Unisem rose by 5.0 sen to RM4.35.
The top losers included Sunway Construction, which weakened 21 sen to RM7.70, Vitrox eased 12 sen to RM9.35, Malaysian Pacific Industries shed 10 sen to RM40.88, Press Metal Aluminium fell 9.0 sen to RM7.77, and Kelington contracted 8.0 sen to RM8.57.
On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index lost 76.06 points to 17,824.54, while the FBM ACE Index fell 18.81 points to 5,293.63.
The FBM Emas Index weakened 32.19 points to 12,606.96, the FBM Top 100 Index slid 33.72 points to 12,404.51, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 42.44 points to 12,460.26.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 7.83 points to 19,896.28
