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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened in the red, with the benchmark index falling more than 1.0%, in line with most regional markets, amid intensified risk-off sentiment as concerns over the Middle East conflict escalated.
At 9.20am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 20.10 points, or 1.17%, to 1,696.51 from Friday’s close of 1,716.61, after opening 27.97 points lower at 1,688.64.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 778 to 150, while 233 counters were unchanged. A total of 1,464 counters were untraded and 23 suspended.
Turnover stood at 718.25 million shares worth RM514.99 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said risk-off sentiment had intensified following recent incidents in the Middle East and expects global markets to pull back in the near term.
The brokerage said it had initially seen Washington’s January engagement with Venezuela as easing oil supply risks.
&#8220;Rising geopolitical tensions have since prompted higher crude prices, benefiting upstream oil and gas players.
“The US-Malaysia interest rate differential may support banking and REITs, while decent prospective dividend yields are expected to provide a buffer against near-term volatility,” it said in a research note today.
Among heavyweights, Press Metal rose six sen to RM7.19, while Maybank fell 32 sen to RM11.64, Public Bank declined 12 sen to RM4.81, CIMB shed 11 sen to RM7.93 and Hong Leong Bank lost 26 sen to RM23.02.
On the most active list, Bumi Armada gained 2.0 sen to 33.5 sen, TWL Holdings was flat at 2.5 sen, Pharmaniaga slipped 1.0 sen to 28.5 sen and Widad edged down half-a-sen to 1.0 sen.
Top gainers included Petronas Dagangan, up 58 sen to RM22.56; Petronas Gas, 26 sen higher at RM18.22; Hibiscus Petroleum, 24 sen firmer at RM1.84; Petronas Chemicals, 18 sen stronger at RM3.18; and Vstecs, 17 sen higher at RM4.65.
Top losers were Nestle, down RM2.90 to RM107; Fraser &amp; Neave, which shed RM1.24 to RM33.70; Malaysian Pacific Industries, 72 sen lower at RM21.24; Dutch Lady, down 70 sen to RM31.62; and PPB, which fell 24 sen to RM10.64.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 142.70 points to 12,291.12, the FBM Emas Index fell 142.56 points to 12,468.87, the FBM 70 Index declined 188.26 points to 17,354.21, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 76.39 points to 12,141.17 and the FBM ACE Index slipped 105 points to 4,615.25.
By sector, the Financial Services Index retreated 411.40 points to 20,670.40, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.01 of-a-point to 170.82, the Energy Index rose 19.61 points to 773.35 and the Plantation Index fell 64.83 points to 8,204.74.

MatchPoint Times

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