Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning due to a lack of buying interest due to the absence of any new catalyst that could provide market direction.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) benchmark fell 4.31 points to 1,462.58 after opening 1.42 points lower at 1,465.47.
According to Bernama, losers outnumbered gainers by 290 to 108 while 238 counters were unchanged, 1454 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover was 225.11 million worth RM97.12 million.
The interest rate decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) tomorrow, the presentation of the 2021 Budget on November 6, the unemployment and industrial production data on November 9 and the US presidential election tomorrow have affected market movements, especially emerging markets.
Rakuten Trade Head of Research Kenny Yee said the FBM KLCI, which saw relatively strong sales last Friday, would not recover in the near future.
"Both internal and external factors may not attract any purchasing activity at this time.
"Therefore, unless the 1,500 level is reached, the benchmark index may be stable within the current range of 1,450-1,500," he said in a research note today.
Among heavyweights, Petronas Trading and Petronas Gas fell four sen to RM17.20 and RM15.70 respectively, Energy declined three sen to RM9.51, Petronas Chemicals fell 10 sen to RM5.75, Top Glove lower 11 sen to RM8 .46 and Axiata decreased three sen to RM2.90.
Petronas Chemicals and Top Glove also topped the counter this morning.
At the most active counters, technology counters dominated with Diversified Gateway Solutions and Dataprep adding one sen to 20.5 sen and 19 sen respectively.
For profit, Chemical Company of Malaysia rose 18 sen to RM2.15, MBM Resources added nine sen to RM2.73 and Scientex strengthened six sen to RM11.94.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 40.79 points to 10,572.79, the FBMT 100 Index fell 38.42 points at 10,394.21 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 71.63 points to 12,670.05.
Meanwhile, FBM 70 declined 81.47 points to 13,903.61 and FBM ACE 22.05 points weaker at 9,421.15.
The Financial Services Index rose 2.09 points to 12.011.48, the Industrial Products and Services Index 1.19 points lower at 139.95 and the Plantation Index fell to 3.76 points to 6.798.14.
