Bursa Malaysia traded lower today as the performance of the US stock market worsened due to slower economic growth and continued to put pressure on the local bourse to remain gloomy.
At 10.18am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index gained 2.17 points to 1,581.06 from 1,578.89 at the close on Thursday.
Judging by a report from Bernama, the key index opened 2.75 points lower at 1,576.14.
On the broader market, losers remained ahead of gainers by 204 to 174, while 306 counters were unchanged, 1,563 untraded and six others suspended.
Turnover stood at 409.70 million units worth RM144.65 million.
Malacca Securities said the decline was likely to occur as foreign funds had shifted to net selling with a net outflow of RM63.0 million yesterday after net buying extended for 12 sessions.
In the meantime, glove counters are expected to trade more slowly than before due to the increase in vaccination rates which is increasingly encouraging at this time.
But the brokerage firm said that investors are likely to remain optimistic about recovery sectors such as construction, banking and consumer as well as transportation and logistics.
He added that yesterday during the Economic Recovery Conference, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz had given a proposal to implement 5G coverage in 80% of populated areas by the end of 2024.
As a result, it may give a positive picture as well as a good sign for 5G -related counters.
For heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals added three sen each to RM8.29 and RM7.88 respectively and IHH Healthcare gained 11 sen to RM6.72.
TNB fell two sen to RM10.24 and Public Bank remained at RM4.10.
For active stocks, KNM rose one sen to 27 sen, Tanco rose half -a -sen to 24 sen and Dagang NeXchange declined one sen to 72.5 sen.
On the index board, FBM 100 fell 15.80 points to 11,215.87, FBM 70 jumped 5.87 points to 15,070.36 and FBM ACE added 9.30 points to 7.202.86.
FBM Emas fell 14.53 points to 11,520.0 and FBM Emas Shariah declined 25.55 points to 12,614.99.
By sector, the Financial Services index rose 5.45 points to 15,394.36, the Industrial Products and Services index fell 1.19 points to 199.76 and the Plantation index declined 20.75 points to 6,632.96.
