Weak Wall Street Performance Encourages Bursa Malaysia to Open Lower

<p>&nbsp;Bursa Malaysia opened lower in the early trading session this morning following Wall Street's poor overnight performance. It is due to investors taking cautious steps ahead of the announcement of economic data from the United States and China.</p><p><br /></p><p>This morning, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.51 points to 1,445.31 compared to its close on Wednesday at 1,445.82. The main index now opened 2.93 points lower at 1,442.89.</p><p><br /></p><p>The sentiment of the market price is seen to be quite mixed with a total of 147 profit counters against 132 loss counters. Meanwhile, 238 counters were unchanged, 1,805 were not traded and 35 others were suspended. Total trading revenue of 212.34 million units worth RM 82.49 million.</p><p><br /></p><p>The US employment data that will be released this Friday caused many investors to take a cautious step.</p><p><br /></p><p>Wall Street closed lower despite signs of a slowing job market after payroll processing firm ADP showed private sector employment in the US rose but less than expected in November.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>China will also release its November trade figures today.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rakuten Trade's Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng opines that recent stock hunting activity projects the index hovering in the 1,445-1,455 range today.</p><p><br /></p><p>Heavyweight counters Maybank and Public Bank recovered modestly, rising one cent to RM9.01 and RM4.26 respectively. CIMB lost two sen to RM5.73 and Tenaga Nasional fell five sen to RM9.94 while Petronas Chemicals was unchanged at RM7.03.</p><p><br /></p><p>For the most active counter, Classita lost half a sen to 5.0 sen while newly listed CPE Technology lost 11.5 sen to 95.5 sen. Leform and PUC were unchanged, recording 35 sen and 4.0 sen respectively.</p><p><br /></p><p>The FBM 70 Index decreased 0.91 points to 13,974.85, and the FBM ACE Index lost 23.57 points to 5,118.13.</p>