Bursa Malaysia opened lower today after investors took cues from yesterday's decline on Wall Street as well as modest profit-taking activity in heavyweights.
At 9.09am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) benchmark declined 16.17 points to 1,574.61 after opening 2.4 points lower at 1,588.38.
Losers outnumbered gainers by 272 to 243 while 355 other counters were unchanged, a total of 1,300 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Turnover was 1.03 billion amounting to RM289.46 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors would shift their focus to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the third quarter of 2020, which would see a modest contraction compared to the previous quarter as economic activity was resumed in stages.
"Currently, we think the key index will increase and is expected to decline in the near future.
"However, low-priced stocks continued to be supported by liquidity-driven markets as investors capitalized on positive market sentiment," he said in a note today as quoted by Bernama.
In terms of sector, the research firm continues to choose the plantation sector, as high crude palm oil prices will continue to rise in the near future.
Based on the new volatility potential, rising gold prices are also expected to create new trading interest in gold-related stocks, he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank declined 10 sen to RM7.70, Public Bank declined 28 sen to RM17.64, Tenaga declined 26 sen to RM11.22, while Petronas Chemicals declined 10 sen to RM6.73.
However, Top Glove rose six sen to RM7.76 and Hartalega jumped four sen to RM15.40.
The most active stocks, Xidelang fell half-a-sen to nine sen, Metronic and AT Systematization rose half-a-sen to 13.5 sen and 22.5 sen, while Salcon added 1.5 sen to 39.5 sen and Netx jumped one sen to 17.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Gold Index fell 85.06 points to 11,320.28; The FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 71.93 points to 13,248.84 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 83.97 points to 11,119.02.
FBM 70 rose 7.97 points to 14,595.57 and FBM ACE rose 18.98 points to 11,371.12.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 190.76 points to 13,391.85; The Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.45 points to 155.77 and the Plantation Index declined 53.26 points to 7,1227.39.
