Bursa Malaysia slipped from four consecutive days of gains as it opened lower in early trade today driven by profit-taking activity even as the Wall Street market saw the Dow Jones hit an all-time high at the end of its overnight trade.
According to dealers, this follows reports that the US consumer price index rose by 0.4% last month, thus also easing concerns about inflation.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index declined 5.64 points to 1,634.19 from 1,639.83 at the end of yesterday's trading.
Bernama reported that when it opened, the index decreased 3.10 points to 1636.73.
However, in the broader market, gainers outpaced losers by 343 to 199 while 347 other counters were unchanged, 1,314 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 624.48 million units worth RM279.89 million.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd through its research note, expects continued strong buying interest in the local market and the FBM KLCI may continue its upward trend following its performance on Wall Street.
According to him, following the daily Covid-19 case which has remained below the 2,000 level so far, market players are likely to choose to see more reopening of business activities, including domestic tourism activities which are expected to drive the tourism sector at present.
However, the technology sector is not expected to change much as the Nasdaq market declines.
Commenting on the performance of the commodity, Malacca Securities said the price of crude palm oil (CPO) had reached a higher level of RM3,974 per tonne while Brent crude oil also recorded an increase.
"We believe that recovering sectors such as consumers, games, construction, transportation and highway -related stocks will increase in the near future.
"In addition, the plantation, oil and gas sectors will also continue the upward trend in line with the strengthening of CPO and Brent crude oil prices," he said.
Heavyweights saw Maybank rise three sen to RM8.57, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM8.18 and Tenaga gained eight sen to RM10.80.
Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were unchanged at RM4.32 and RM5.29.
For active stocks, Vizione Holdings rose 3.5 sen to 34 sen, its warrants rose three sen to 14 sen while Widad added 3.5 sen to 52 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 18.40 points to 11,934.04, the FBMT 100 Index declined 22.32 points to 11,628.28 and the FBM ACE declined 10.61 points to 10,341.81.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index rose 9.77 points more to 13,190.80 while the FBM 70 added 10.20 points to 15,578.35.
By sector, the Financial Services Index decreased 89.56 points to 15,745.98, the Plantation Index decreased 6.01 points to 7,176.12 but the Industrial Products and Services Index increased 0.10 points to 190.20.
