KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower in most indices today as the downbeat US economic data spurred worries over the outlook of corporate earnings and reignited fears of a recession.
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At 9.06 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 9.44 points to 1,445.30 from Tuesday’s close of 1,454.74.
The benchmark index opened 4.29 points lower at 1,450.45.
On the broader market, decliners led gainers 237 to 65, while 154 counters were unchanged, 1,850 untraded and 89 others suspended.
Rakuten Trade vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street had slumped after a strong opening following the release of disappointing US economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 491 points while the Nasdaq declined by 343 points.
Back home, he said the FBM KLCI closed higher yesterday due to late buying activities, particularly from foreign funds.
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“However, we reckon that such buying may dissipate today in view of the weakness on Wall Street, thus we anticipate the index to trend within the 1,440-1,460 range,” Thong told Bernama.
Meanwhile, crude palm oil price continued its rebound, closing at RM5,160 per tonne yesterday, while oil benchmark Brent crude inched towards the US$120 per barrel-mark on declining inventory.
Among the heavyweight counters, Sime Darby Plantation lost 13 sen to RM4.30, Public Bank eased four sen to RM4.42, Press Metal Aluminium fell seven sen to RM4.79, PPB Group shed 40 sen to RM15.70, CIMB declined four sen to RM4.96 and Maybank gave up three sen to RM8.61.
Of the actives, Hibiscus Petroleum decreased three sen to RM1.00, Bina Puri eased half-a-sen to four sen, Dynaciate added half-a-sen to 12.5 sen and Cypark weakened two sen to 43 sen.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 87.67 points to 16,026.19, the Plantation Index lost 79.23 points to 6,962.94, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.20 points lower at 183.36.-FMT