KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): Bursa Malaysia opened mixed in early trade on Friday (Jan 21), with the key index rising by a marginal 0.05% amid weak sentiment across the broader market.

At 9.25am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had added 0.83 of a point to 1,528.58 from 1,527.75 at Thursday's close after opening 1.06 point higher at 1,528.81.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 295 to 159, while 269 counters were unchanged, 1,512 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 426.06 million units worth RM196.79 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a research note, believes investors might still be jittery in anticipation of an interest rate hike environment, as well as due to concerns over still-spiking Covid-19 cases.

"Hence, the negative sentiment may spill over to stocks on the local front, and profit-taking activities on technology counters may emerge,” the brokerage said in a research note.

On commodity markets, crude palm oil prices continued to trend above their all-time high, while crude oil prices hovered above the US$88 (about RM368.85) per barrel mark.

"We remain positive on energy and plantation stocks as commodity prices were sustained. Meanwhile, we believe technology may turn lower on the back of profit-taking activities, while we expect the building material segment to gain traction as the metal rally heats up,” said Malacca Securities.  

Of the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) soared 13 sen to RM9.08, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained two sen to RM5.27, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) added one sen to RM9.08, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd increased seven sen to RM6.19, Public Bank Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd were flat at RM4.17 and RM6.55 respectively, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) eased one sen to RM8.27 and Hong Leong Bank Bhd trimmed 18 sen to RM19.16. 

Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) advanced two sen to 98.5 sen, G3 Global Bhd, Ageson Bhd and Talam Transform Bhd were flat at eight sen, 2.5 sen and two sen respectively, while Aurelius Technologies Bhd shed five sen to RM2.02.

On the index board, the FBM ACE rose 2.27 points to 6,163.40, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 12.23 points to 11,690.12, the FBM 70 discounted 77.91 points to 13,487.39, the FBM Emas Index was 11.84 points weaker at 10,968.77 and the FBMT 100 Index dipped 9.29 points to 10,675.93. 

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index up 1.03 point to 202.27, the Plantation Index rose 1.84 point to 6,680.83 and the Financial Services Index contracted 21.82 points to 15,757.01.