At 9.25am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 3.21 points to 1,468.34 from yesterday’s closing of 1,471.55. The market bellwether opened 0.09 of-a-point easier at 1,471.46.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 313 to 162, while 303 counters were unchanged, 1,477 were not traded and 10 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 416.46 million units worth RM184.16 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the local bourse is ripe for a rebound after the 30-point decline over the past three days.
Meanwhile, the staggered easing of Covid-19 regulations in China should bode well for regional markets’ performance, it added.
“As such, we expect the index to hover in the 1,470 to 1,490 range today, with the focus possibly shifting to the plantation stocks as crude palm oil price rises above RM4,000 per tonne on news of Indonesia’s biofuel plans that could reduce supply for exports,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB Bank and TNB increased by three sen each to RM5.60 and RM9.21, respectively, while Maybank and Public Bank both declined by two sen each to RM8.59 and RM4.43, respectively, and Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare eased a sen each to RM8.55 and RM5.81, respectively.
Of the actives, Solution Group advanced 2.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Infomina rose four sen to RM1.11, BCM Alliance edged up half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, Borneo Oil was flat at two sen, Dataprep declined 1.5 sen to 29.5 sen and EC Integrated gave up 1.5 sen to 87.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 21.24 points to 10,561.76, the FBMT 100 Index discounted 17.34 points to 10,258.60, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 28.07 points to 10,739.61, the FBM 70 erased 1.63 points to 12,929.14, and the FBM ACE shrank 11.83 points to 5,487.66.
Sector-wise, the plantation index ticked up 2.70 points to 6,727.73, while the financial services index slid 20.12 points to 16,419.30, the industrial products and services index dwindled 0.97 of-a-point to 181.80, and the energy index lessened by 10.21 points to 795.61.