BURSA Malaysia opened lower on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s decline overnight amidst the global selldown, said an analyst. 

At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 9.41 points to 1,394.52 from Wednesday’s close of 1,403.93.

The key index opened 3.11 points easier at 1,400.82. 

Market breadth was negative with decliners trumping gainers 316 to 63, while 188 counters were unchanged, 1,700 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 241.88 million units worth RM125.21 million. 

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng said the Wall Street was affected by the banking crisis that had spread to Europe, with the Credit Suisse Bank being the latest to be hit by a liquidity squeeze.

“The Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) Average lost 281 points, while the Nasdaq added six points as the US 10-year yield ended lower at 3.46 per cent.

“Back home, the FBM KLCI rebounded yesterday due to broad-based buying. Nonetheless, we reckon regional equities to face some headwinds today as most major futures are trading on a mixed note at the time of writing,” he told Bernama. 

Meanwhile, he noted that the United States (US) inflation for February that came in within expectation had further injected some confidence that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) would be more lenient with its interest rate hike next week. 

As such, he expects that the local bourse may not be spared as the index may break below 1,400 again with 1,385-1,390 as the immediate support.

In the meantime, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank was down by four sen to RM8.31, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals decreased three sen each to RM3.92 and RM6.97, respectively, CIMB was eight sen lower at RM5.15 and TNB slipped two sen to RM9.40. 

Among the actives, Velesto Energy lost one sen to 20.5 sen, Mestron Holdings and Vinvest Capital went down half-a-sen to 41 sen and 22 sen, respectively, while Hong Seng Consolidated and PUC were flat at 15 sen and three sen, respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index narrowed 71.34 points to 10,190.03, the FBM 70 Index eased 95.14 points to 13,073.90, the FBMT 100 Index weakened 67.91 points to 9,883.65, the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 65.41 points to 10,493.95 and the FBM ACE Index shrank by 39.48 points to 5,236.87.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 107.25 points to 15,375.20, the Energy Index slid 28.25 points to 809.75, the Plantation Index lost 26.58 points to 6,695.73, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.93 of-a-point to 168.63. —  Bernama / TMR File Pic