Bursa Malaysia started trading this morning with mixed performance following cautious sentiment that continued to dominate the market as investors scrutinized corporate earnings reports for the fourth quarter of 2020.
While the positive corporate earnings signal a sign of a global economic recovery, analysts instead expect Asian stocks to be likely to decline today as a result of profit-taking activity following the decline in technology and retail stocks as a result of profit-taking activities affecting the U.S. benchmark market.
On Tuesday, tech giants Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc recorded strong profits and pushed the local technology index to a 3.2% profit.
Bernama reported that at 9.01am on Thursday, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) key index fell 1.49 points to 1,581.50 from 1,582.99 when it closed on Wednesday.
The index opened up 0.89 points to 1,582.10.
In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers by 232 to 92 while 230 other counters were unchanged, 1,576 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 248.88 million units worth RM73.35 million.
Meanwhile, brokerage firm Rakuten Trade expects market conditions to remain volatile following the stance of investors who prioritize mid-term developments.
“The performance of the FBM KLCI yesterday, for example, shows that investor sentiment is still weak. However, we expect the benchmark index to maintain its uptrend around 1,585 / 90 with a significant level of 1,600, ”he said in a note today.
The firm also expects buying interest in oil and gas stocks to continue to rise as Brent crude prices move towards US $ 60 a barrel, adding 1.8% to around US $ 58.50 yesterday.
Heavyweights saw Maybank rise one sen to RM7.95, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.12, Petronas Chemicals declined four sen to RM7.06 and Top Glove declined seven sen to RM6.75.
For active stocks, KNM gained half-a-sen to 19 sen, Luster Industries rose 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen while Sanichi declined half-a-sen at 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 13.01 points to 11,502.32, the FBMT 100 Index gained 3.49 points to 11,228.29 while the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 0.83 points to 13,049.07.
FBM 70 increased 59.27 points to 14,974.58 and FBM ACE added 7.15 points to 10,952.29.
By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 46.79 points to 14,595.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 0.04 points to 173.84 but the Plantation Index declined 40.48 points to 7,133.88.
