Trading on Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning in line with the weak overnight performance on Wall Street.
At 9.08am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index declined 2.73 points to 1,528.9 from 1,531.63 at the close yesterday.
According to Bernama, the key index opened 0.67 points lower at 1,530.96.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 209 to 142 while 272 counters were unchanged, 1,556 untraded and 10 others suspended.
Turnover was 293.19 million units worth RM138.59 billion.
According to Malacca Securities, trading on the local bourse will be more cautious as the daily volume of COVID-19 has increased significantly past the 7,000 mark yesterday, although vaccination rates continue to show an increase.
The brokerage firm added that investors were also taking a cautious stance ahead of the interest rate decision by Bank Negara tomorrow.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) failed to agree on their production policies.
Malacca Securities argues that the daily case surge of COVID-19 could shift investors ’focus to the glove sector in the short term.
“However, the plan to set up more than 30 large -scale vaccination centers on July 19 could speed up vaccination rates, and this benefits recovery -themed sectors such as important consumer shares.
"Meanwhile, technology stocks still have a chance to rise higher amid positive Nasdaq movements," he added.
Among heavyweights, TNB rose one sen to RM9.72, IHH Healthcare rose four sen to RM5.60 and Hong Leong Bank added eight sen to RM18.80.
Meanwhile, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM8.10 and RM8.09 respectively, Public Bank declined two sen to RM4.08 and Press Metal fell eight sen to RM5.01.
For active stocks, AE Multi gained one sen to 5.5 sen, Jetson Group rose 3.5 sen to 50.5 sen, Serba Dinamik and Metronic were unchanged at 51 sen and 5.5 sen, respectively, while Privasia fell half-a-sen to 25.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was down 19.99 points at 11,150.22, the FBMT 100 Index was down 18.76 points at 10,850.79, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was down 24.28 points at 12,184.85.
FBM ACE fell 17.05 points to 7,402.2 and FBM 70 narrowed 22.35 points to 14,455.25.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 3.66 points to 15,062.0, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.54 points to 189.77 and the Plantation Index was 11.03 points lower at 6,377.33.
