Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning on weak market sentiment, taking cues from the less bullish close on Wall Street.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index declined 16.25 points or 1.023 per cent to 1,572.8 from Friday's close of 1,589.05.
Bernama reported that the key index opened 8.54 points lower at 1,580.51.
Market price movements were also weak with losers outpacing gainers 394 to 112 while 282 counters were unchanged, 1,409 untraded and 17 others suspended.
According to Public Investment Bank Bhd research notes, the FBM KLCI opened lower this morning as shares on Wall Street experienced its worst week in nearly four months after US Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers hinted the country's central bank was very sensitive to rising inflationary pressures.
The downward trend also follows comments from Federal chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday that investors saw the decision as a signal the US central bank would act to ease inflation and policymakers were not just focused on helping the country's severely affected labor market.
US Federal Reserve policymakers project interest rates to rise from lows in 2023 compared to their initial forecasts in 2024.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors may continue to hold out today amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic situation and recent political developments.
Nevertheless, the downside risk may be curbed by an increase in daily vaccination rates as the government aims to achieve cluster immunity of 80% by the third quarter of this year.
According to Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim, the FBM KLCI is expected to trade higher in the range of 1,585 to 1,600 points this week, driven by the progress of Covid-19 vaccination in the country apart from positive inflation data expectations.
“The total daily vaccination dose given remains above 200,000 from Tuesday to Thursday last week, thus giving hope that 80% of the Malaysian population will be vaccinated by the end of 2021.
"As for economic data, Malaysia will release inflation data for May which may continue to increase from year to year due to the low base effect from last year," he explained.
In other developments, the counter change following the half -year review of the Bursa Malaysia Index Series will take effect today.
Among the changes is that home appliance retailer MR DIY Group (M) Bhd was included as one of the 30 FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI counters, replacing rubber glove maker Supermax Corporation Bhd.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and PetChem declined four sen each to RM8.16 and RM7.96, Public Bank declined two sen to RM4.18, Tenaga declined 36 sen to RM10.08, IHH declined one sen to RM5. 85 and CIMB was three sen lower at RM4.57.
For active stocks, Key Alliance, Tanco and Lambo were flat at 3.5 sen, 15 sen and 1.5 sen, respectively, Focus fell half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, while MQ Technology added one sen to 9.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 95.29 points to 11,489.65, the FBMT 100 Index declined 95.08 points to 11,181.25, the FBM ACE declined 74.53 points to 7,633.17, the FBM Emas Syariah Index declined 126.08 points to 12,652.14 and the FBM 70 declined 46.886 points to 14,99.72.
By sector, the Financial Services Index fell 85.35 points to 15,228.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 1.77 points to 190.24, and the Plantation Index declined 58.87 points to 6,622.68.
