Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower in early trading today amid an absence of fresh market catalysts, with profit-taking expected today. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 0.20 of a point to 1,750.36 from Tuesday's close of 1,750.56. The benchmark index opened 0.10 of a point firmer at 1,750.66.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, in the broader market, losers led gainers 232 to 169. A total of 334 counters were unchanged, 1,940 remained untraded, and 13 were suspended. Turnover stood at 314.91 million shares worth RM135.20 million. Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that although Wall Street retreated following higher-than-anticipated consumer price index data, market attention will focus on US President Donald Trump's visit to China. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has advised countries to prepare for further hantavirus cases, and the brokerage anticipates sentiment to remain supportive of glove manufacturers in the near term. 'Traders may monitor for a pullback to accumulate,' it said in a note.
At the opening, among heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM11.22, Tenaga Nasional fell six sen to RM14.72, Public Bank rose one sen to RM4.85, CIMB gained four sen to RM7.94, and IHH Healthcare inched up two sen to RM9.05. Among the most active stocks, GIIB rose five sen to 25.5 sen, Kronologi and Genetec added one sen each to 14 sen and 37 sen, respectively. VS Industry was up half a sen to 21.5, while Oppstar remained flat at 80.5 sen.
Top gainers included DKSH, which added 15 sen to RM5.84, Sunway Construction and Fraser and Neave, each increasing 10 sen to RM7.20 and RM30.0, respectively, and Petron, which gained eight sen to RM4.50. Conversely, top losers included BLD Plantations, which fell 34 sen to RM14.66, Hong Leong Industries, which decreased 18 sen to RM19.12, Malaysian Pacific, which slipped 10 sen to RM42.16, Telekom Malaysia, which lost seven sen to RM7.62, and United Plantations, which slid six sen to RM30.24.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 7.35 points to 12,947.02, the FBM Top 100 Index sank 9.18 points to 12,785.49, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 9.70 points to 12,864.60, and the FBM ACE Index gave up 10.03 points to 4,718.25, while the FBM Mid 70 Index edged down 46.58 points to 18,486.49. By sector, the Financial Services Index grew 14.58 points to 20,315.88, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.12 of a point to 198.79, the Energy Index was 0.17 of a point higher at 807.99, and the Plantation Index gained 0.72 of a point to 8,798.78.