Bursa Malaysia opened with mixed performance today as investors did not enter the market ahead of the vote to approve the 2021 Budget at the policy level to be held in the Dewan Rakyat today.
At 9.02am, the benchmark index, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.68 points to 1,593.90 from 1,597.58 when it closed yesterday.
Bernama reported that the index opened 0.11 points higher at 1,597.69 but declined later.
Gainers outnumbered losers by 220 to 121 while 1,454 counters were unchanged, 383 counters untraded and 333 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.20 billion shares worth RM446.92 million.
Analysts said this morning's session will remain unfavorable as today's focus is at 2pm in Parliament.
"Malaysia has been on the path of economic recovery but without a budget approved, it will affect market sentiment until a new budget is drafted and approved later.
"This also puts more pressure on income during this challenging period because civil servants depend on the budget for their salaries, including (assistance) to frontline staff," he said.
He said if the 2021 Budget was approved this afternoon, local equities would have a good chance of a surge after the Pioneer Index (LI) showed a strong increase in September.
According to MIDF Investment, the country's LI increased to 8.6 per cent year-on-year in September 2020 from 7.6 per cent in the previous month.
"This is a positive growth for the fifth consecutive month which shows that the Malaysian economy remains on the path of recovery with domestic economic activity resilient despite the challenging impact," he said in a research note.
According to him, the stronger performance of the index was driven mainly by actual imports of semiconductors particularly electronic integrated circuits, and several new companies were registered mainly in the wholesale and retail trade sectors.
On Bursa Malaysia, Public Bank's heavyweights fell 30 sen to RM18.62, Press Metal declined 13 sen to RM6.27, Sime Darby Plantation declined six sen to RM5.13 and Maybank contracted three sen to RM8.19.
Among actives, Vivocom declined 14 sen to 71.5 sen, AT Systematization rose 1.5 sen to 18.5 sen and Saudee was flat at 52 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 5.81 points at 11,446.24, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 7.94 points to 11,221.92, the FBM Emas Syariah Index jumped 14.37 points to 13,138.23, and the FBM 70 added 60.23 points to 14,600.20.
FBM ACE declined 29.04 points to 10,550.43, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.30 points to 158.31, the Plantation Index declined 31.07 points to 7,282.46 and the Financial Services Index rose 1.05 points to 14,226.36.
