BURSA Malaysia opened higher but turned lower thereafter on a lack of catalysts.  

At 9.30 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.88  points to 1,445.65 from 1,451.53 at Tuesday’s close, after opening 0.1 of-a-point better at 1,451.63.  

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 251 to 186, while 336 counters were unchanged, 1,579 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 469.61 million units worth RM183.83 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said despite the local stock market ending higher yesterday, the upside could be limited today as the market breadth has turned negative with only a handful of sectors higher.

“Meanwhile, we believe Wall Street may shift towards a cautious stance ahead of Nvidia’s results. Also, the rising US Treasury yields and US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s speech during the Jackson Hole meeting are crucial to watch out for.

“Hence, a softer trading tone may emerge today, affecting the performance of lower liners and small caps,” it said in a research note today.

The brokerage expects the building materials segment to sustain its upward momentum on optimism for the construction and property sectors following the potential for a fresh proposal for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project. 

Among the heavyweight counters, Genting Malaysia and AMMB Holdings added one sen each to RM2.59 and RM3.74, respectively.

Maybank and CIMB were flat at RM9.01 and RM5.58, Public Bank slipped one sen to RM4.12 and TNB declined four sen to RM10.02. 

Of the actives, Perdana Petroleum and Icon Offshore both grew one sen to 19.5 sen and 9.5 sen and Ramssol advanced 3.5 sen to 44 sen.KNM was flat at nine sen and Bumi Armada slipped half-a-sen to 50 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index discounted 33.17 points to 10,664.81, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 34.95 points to 10,348.91 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index narrowed 51.05 points to 10,882.12.

The FBM 70 Index lost 17.52 points to 14,120.46 while the FBM ACE Index gained 4.09 points to 5,289.65.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index rose 2.15 points to 813.42, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 1.42 points to 168.69 and the Plantation Index slid 83.68 points to 6,946.92.

The Financial Services Index dropped 19.0 points to 16,249.23.  — BERNAMA