Bursa Malaysia opened lower today following profit-taking activity after a strong performance yesterday and in a weak Wall Street overnight performance.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) benchmark fell 9.02 points or 0.57% to 1,579.43 from 1,588.45 as it closed on Wednesday.
According to Bernama, the key indicator index opened 0.44 points high at 1,588.89.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by 325 to 189, while 304 counters were unchanged, 1,335 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover stood at 433.95 million units worth RM240.11 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the market was looking forward to the second meeting of the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today to measure market movements.
However, according to him, economists expect an unchanged stance on the overnight policy rate of 1.75% amid expectations of an economic recovery.
"We are confident that low-priced stocks will continue to rise if positive market sentiment continues. Meanwhile, the price of Brent crude oil is seen to be rising, "he said in a research note.
Following the daily Covid-19 case which remained below 2,000 for the third day in a row, the company believes traders will focus on recovery-related sectors such as aviation, consumer products and games.
"Besides that, traders may be looking for oil and gas counters and plantations following the increase in commodity prices," he said.
Another trader said regional stocks are poised to experience volatility in equities and bonds following the rise in US Treasury bonds as well as ahead of China's annual parliamentary session tomorrow.
At the regional level, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.8% to 2,997.89 and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index declined 1.49% to 29,117.6.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank rose two sen to RM4.24, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM7.74 and RM5.50, respectively, while Maybank declined four sen to RM8.10, TNB fell eight sen to eight. RM10.38, CIMB dropped three sen to RM4.26 and Top Glove declined 16 sen to RM4.93.
Among actives, Nexgram rose half-a-sen to five sen, Minetech added 1.5 sen to 21.5 sen, Dataprep rose 13 sen to RM1.97, while Nexchange Trading was flat at 61.5 sen, Sealink declined one sen to 19.5 sen and MY EG declined. nine sen to RM2.15.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 58.58 points to 11,612.86, the FBMT 100 Index fell 57.90 points to 11,307.95, the FBM Emas Syariah Index was low 87.15 points to 12,953.1, the FBM ACE fell 97.47 points to 10,518.32 and the FBM 70 fell 53.52 points to 15,445.83.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index was down 1.03 points to 185.9, the Plantation Index fell 11.06 points to 7,151.03, and the Financial Services Index fell 15.68 points to 15,017.16.
