KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia got off Thursday on a cautious note with Petronas Dagangan and Hong Leong Bank among the losers after Wall Street closed lower and key Asian markets were in the red.
At 9.15am, the KLCI was down 1.93 points or 0.1% to 1,856.24. Turnover was 314.58 million shares valued at RM105.49mil. There were 164 gainers, 189 losers and 223 counters unchanged.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.35% in early trade, while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 lost 0.2%.
Japan's Nikkei shed 1% even as the yen gave back some of its recent gains on the dollar.
On Wall Street the Dow had ended Wednesday down 0.67%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.55% and the Nasdaq 0.22%.
The retreat came after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting showed the usual concerns that inflation might disappoint, but also an expectation of faster economic growth due to fiscal stimulus, Reuters reported.
Kenanga Investment Bank Research believes the KLCI will continue recovering from the losses made as the momentum indicator is increasingly positive.
“Expect recovery to gain traction, with a possible retest at 1,883 (R1). Should this level be taken out next, index would then attract momentum buying towards 1,910 (R2).
“Failure to break past R1 will see firm support levels at 1,798 (S1) and 1,771 (S2),” it said.
Among the KLCI stocks, Petronas Dagangan fell 18 sen to RM25.24, HL Bank 16 sen lower at RM18.48 while Maxis lost six sen to RM6.05 and Axiata five sen lower at RM6.53.
Mercury lost 15 sen to RM1.75, Petron 10 sen to RM11.72, HL Industries and Hengyuan six sen each to RM11.24 and RM14.56.
Consumer stocks were among the gainers led by Ajinomoto, up 66 sen to RM22.16 and Nestle 60 sen to RM122.60 while Dutch Lady
added 40 sen to RM65 with 100 shares done. BAT gained 18 sen to RM30.48.
Gopeng, EITA and Bursa advanced 10 sen each to RM1.40, RM1.60 and RM10.90 respectively.
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