Bursa Malaysia opened higher today but retreated thereafter, driven by moderate profit-taking in selected heavyweights as Wall Street continued its upward trend.
At 3.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.13 points to 1,535.60 from its close of 1,539.54 on Monday.
The benchmark index was 1.10 points better at 1,540.64 at the open.
Total trading volume amounted to 280.75 million shares worth RM104.53 million.
Market conditions were negative, with 219 losers outpacing 142 gainers, 300 counters unchanged, 1,674 untraded and 17 suspended.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said while the overall sentiment on the Bursa may turn bearish today, it expects buying opportunities to be seen in banking stocks as the Financial Index rose around 10 per cent from its April 9 low.
Meanwhile, following the continued contract wins in Johor, and with the prospect of repeating this success in Penang, the research firm believes there are trading opportunities in ITMAX amid a break of the downtrend line.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare were unchanged at RM10 and RM7 respectively, Public Bank fell 1.0 sen to RM4.46, CIMB fell 5.0 sen to RM7.03, while Tenaga Nasional rose 8.0 sen to RM13.88.
In active trade, Permaju gained half a sen to 3.5 sen, Ekovest added 1.0 sen to 34 sen, while Jiankun and Velesto were unchanged at 3.0 sen and 15.5 sen respectively.
