BURSA Malaysia continued to trend lower in early trading today due to a lack of catalysts and after a mixed Wall Street performance on Friday, a trader said.  

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.63 points to 1,457.04 from Friday’s closing of 1,460.67. The index opened 0.41 of-a-point points easier at 1,460.26.

The market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers 175 to 167 while 273 counters were unchanged, 1,759 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 196.88 million units valued at RM77.21 million.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street barely ended in positive territory last Friday as investors began to digest the recent rally. Mixed comments from US Federal Reserve officials on the outlook of inflation in the United States provided support and helped cushion the market, he noted.

“Back home, the FBM KLCI is expected to continue trending lower due to broad-based selling,” he told Bernama, adding that the index may hover between the 1,455-1,465 range today, predominantly due to the lack of positive catalysts.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank and Public Bank eased two sen each to RM9.10 and RM4.21 respectively, while CIMB lost seven sen to RM5.73 and Petronas Chemicals was unchanged at RM7.22. Tenaga Nasional gave up one sen to RM9.95.

Of the actives, Hong Seng and Daythree Digital stayed flat at 3.5 sen and 44.5 sen, respectively, while Mercury Securities eased half-a-sen to 35 sen. Sarawak Consolidated and Hubline were also unchanged at 64 sen and four sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 18.30 points to 10,781.68, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 19.62 points to 10,442.88 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 0.41 of-a-point to 11,004.33.

The FBM ACE Index gave up 17.12 points to 5,154.82, while the FBM 70 Index gained 0.92 of a point to 14,303.00.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 63.39 points to 16,319.25, the Energy Index edged down 1.28 points to 851.22 and the Plantation Index was 1.61 points lower at 7,005.13. The Industrial Products and Services Index was flat at 173.91. — BERNAMA / pic TMR