Kuala Lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, tracking the overnight losses on Wall Street, with sentiment affected by the ongoing spat between US President Donald Trump and businessman Elon Musk. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 2.78 points lower at 1,515.34 from Thursday's close of 1,518.12. The benchmark index opened at 1,516.91, less 1.21 points.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, market breadth was negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 207 to 84. A total of 243 counters were unchanged, 1,812 untraded, and 20 suspended. Turnover stood at 119.92 million units valued at RM70.92 million. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that all eyes were on China's President Xi Jinping and Trump's phone call, which was deemed 'very good' by Trump, with a potential meeting between the two on the horizon.
The latest job data showed a slowing labor market as the US 10-year Treasury yield edged slightly higher at 4.39 per cent. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index continued to climb as sentiment was boosted by China's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for May, which exceeded consensus, easing fears of an economic slowdown.
On the domestic front, the FBM KLCI almost reached the 1,520 mark yesterday, possibly due to more aggressive stock accumulation by local institutions. Thong commented on the unexpected strong buying interest after a period of lackluster performance over the past month and predicted the index to hover within the 1,515-1,530 range for today.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals and Press Metal Aluminium both eased 5.0 sen to RM3.31 and RM4.98, respectively. Sime Darby shed 2.0 sen to RM1.73, YTL Corp dropped 2.0 sen to RM2.01, and Tenaga Nasional was 8.0 sen weaker at RM14.12. Among the most active stocks, Green Packet and Avangaad were both flat at 2.5 sen and 28 sen, respectively. Jaks Resources fell half-a-sen to 10.5 sen, Autocount Dotcom was 11 sen lower at RM1.07, and Thriven Global shed 2.5 sen to 10.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 22.75 points to 11,340.08, the FBMT 100 Index slid 21.90 points to 11,0106.46, and the FBM ACE Index decreased 21.99 points to 4,496.15. The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 29.32 points to 11,311.42, while the FBM 70 Index gave up 37.93 points to 16,245.38. Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 8.92 points to 17,730.65, the Industrial Products and Services Index was down 0.99 of a point to 151.13, the Plantation Index shed 6.01 points to 7,213.37, but the Energy Index increased 0.27 of a point to 708.88.