KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Profit-taking activities in blue chips after Wednesday's (March 29) advance dragged Bursa Malaysia's main index to open lower.

At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.86 points to 1,417.49 from Wednesday's close of 1,420.35.

The main index opened 2.54 points lower at 1,417.81.

Market breadth, however, was positive as gainers beat decliners by 188 to 104, while 203 counters were unchanged, 1,796 untraded, and 75 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 200.86 million units worth RM76.42 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said that on Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 323 points and S&P 500 rose 56 points as concerns over the banking sector eased, coupled with expectations that the Federal Reserve may halt its rate hike in May and upbeat US earnings reports.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped by 210 points while the US 10-year yield remained at 3.57%.

“In line with the improving sentiment, we reckon the ongoing uptrend on local bourse yesterday (Wednesday) to remain intact and expect the index to hover within the 1,420-1,435 range today (Thursday), with buying interests returning to plantation counters as crude palm oil price closed at one-week high above RM3,700 per tonne,” Thong said.

Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it is monitoring the developments on the China visit by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as traders might speculate on expectations of big investments.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional Bhd lost two sen to RM9.12, and AMMB Holdings Bhd fell two sen to RM3.71.

Maxis Bhd dropped three sen to RM4, CelcomDigi Bhd slipped three sen to RM4.25, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd dipped three sen to RM5.28, and Telekom Malaysia Bhd fell three sen to RM4.92.

As for the actives, Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd trimmed two sen to four sen, YBS International Bhd added 4.5 sen to 74.5 sen, Tanco Holdings Bhd was half-a-sen higher at 45.5 sen, and Joe Holding Bhd was flat at 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index eased 3.59 points to 10,384.43, the FBMT 100 Index went down 6.76 points to 10,076.61 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined six points to 10,693.08.

The FBM 70 Index was 46.99 points better at 13,457.3 while the FBM ACE Index improved by 28.77 points to 5,238.73.    

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 9.41 points to 15,679.77, the Energy Index gained 1.32 points to 833.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.93 of-a-point to 169.7 and the Plantation Index rose 3.14 points to 6,683.71.