Bursa Malaysia opened lower today amid mixed overnight performance on Wall Street as sentiment remained cautious due to high expectations and market valuations.
At 3.15pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.13 points (0.07%) to 1,604.28 from 1,603.20 at yesterday's close.
The benchmark index opened 1.37 points lower at 1,601.83.
The market sentiment was negative as losers outnumbered gainers by 225 to 219 while 345 counters were unchanged, 1,689 were untraded and 39 were suspended.
Trading volume of 458.76 million units worth RM207.88 million
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower, Nasdaq hit another record high as many expected the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to cut interest rates supported by the November Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure which met expectations.
Locally, Thong said the FBM KLCI continued its decline back to around 1,600 amid continued selling by foreign funds, he was confused by the ongoing selling situation which started in October causing Bursa Malaysia to lack liquidity.
He expected the 1,600 level to remain a strong psychological support for now hence the index is likely to hover in the 1,600 to 1,610 range today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell 2.0 sen to RM10.10, Public Bank declined 1.0 sen to RM4.60, CIMB contracted 2.0 sen to RM8.09, Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare fell 10 sen to RM13.66 and RM7.06 respectively.
Among active stocks, Zen Tech and Matang declined to 0.5 sen and 8.0 sen respectively, TMK Chemical rose 25 sen to RM2.00, Datasonic added 1.0 sen to 44 sen while AIMFLEX was unchanged at 15 sen
