KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher, but retreated thereafter today, as the 14th General Elections on May 9, kept investors on the sidelines.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 4.89 points at 1,836.94 from Friday’s close of 1,841.83.
The index opened 0.73-of-a-point higher at 1,842.56.
On the broader market losers led gainers 130 to 57, while 157 counters were unchanged, 1,517 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Volume stood at 73.65 million units valued at RM23.18 million.
A dealer said typically, most investors would remain on the sidelines ahead of the general elections as Malaysia was still deemed a political market.
However, he said based on the country’s strong fundamentals, coupled with positive inflation data and good trade balance, the losses were just a temporary pre-election downtrend.
“Usually, the market would rebound after the elections as the wait-and-see investors would make a return thereafter,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed eight sen to RM10.54, CIMB was two sen lower at RM6.75, IHH Healthcare fell three sen to RM5.98, while Public Bank rose two sen to RM23.82 and Petronas Chemicals improved five sen to RM8.50.
