Malaysian Stock Market Opens Lower On Selling Pressure On Wall Street

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) – The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) opened lower on Friday weighed down by selling pressure on Wall Street, dealers said. At 9.15 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 8.28 points lower at 1,729.73 from 1,738.01 on Thursday. The index opened 4.3 points lower at 1,733.71. A dealer said an early sell-off on Wall Street gathered pace as sentiment was hit by renewed concerns about US-China trade tension and the prospect of further interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve. “Immediate overhead resistance for the FBM KLCI stays at 1,742 while immediate support remains at 1,697,” he said. Among heavyweights, Maybank eased four sen to RM9.56, Public Bank and TNB shed eight sen each to RM24.94 and RM14.50 respectively, Petronas Chemicals fell 10 sen to RM9.33 and CIMB lost five sen to RM5.98. For actives, Sapura Energy slipped half-a-sen to 34 sen, Hibiscus lost three sen to RM1.22 and Ewein eased 1.5 sen to 63 sen. K1 added two sen to 29 sen while Iris was flat at 14.5 sen. The FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 53.68 points to 11,986.41, the FBM Ace Index eased 33.6 points to 5,063.37 and the FBM 70 was down 43.779 points at 13,852.99. The FBM Emas Index declined 53.431 points to 11,977.81 and the FBMT 100 Index lost 52.07 points to 11,802.92. Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 26.39 points to 7,360.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index was slightly higher by 0.99 point at 172.17 and the Financial Services Index fell 55.08 points to 17,527.89. Losers led gainers 252 to 60 with 156 unchanged, 1,431 counters untraded and 41 suspended. Volume stood at 167.38 million units valued at RM72.31 million. – BERNAMA