Bursa Malaysia traded lower in early trading this morning, weighed down by the weak performance of the overnight movements on Wall Street as well as the oil market.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index declined 2.71 points to 1,625.28 from 1,627.99 at the close of trading on Thursday afternoon.
Bernama reported that the key index opened 3.05 points higher at 1,631.04 at 9am and then turned lower a minute later.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 431 to 132 while 299 counters were unchanged, 1,385 untraded and 55 others suspended.
Turnover was 553.83 million shares worth RM224.41 million.
According to Malacca Securities, Wall Street slipped from a recent peak with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.5% amid continuing concerns about inflationary pressures, coupled with falling crude oil prices.
The firm added that the decline in Brent oil and crude palm oil prices after reaching their respective peaks, may also give negative sentiment for the energy sector.
“The FBM KLCI rose higher yesterday driven by stock market confidence for index -linked recovery -themed counters on economic recovery after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's announcement on the Pemerkasa economic stimulus package.
"However, we believe the Nasdaq's overnight trading decline is likely to spill over into the broader market and technology sector today," it said in a post today.
According to the research firm, traders may focus on lagging counters such as real estate, construction, consumer and tourism.
News of the collaboration of three Malaysian telecommunications companies to develop fiber infrastructure could attract buying interest in the sector.
Among heavyweights, Petchem and TM declined 12 sen each to RM8.08 to RM6.29.
MISC and Press Metal, meanwhile, both declined 10 sen to RM6.87 and RM10.06.
On the other hand, Top Glove rose five sen to RM5.31 and Maybank and Digi were three sen higher at RM8.40 and RM3.71 respectively while Maybank rose two sen to RM4.65.
Among the most active counters, Macpie added eight sen to 37.5 sen, KNM fell half -a -sen to 19.5 sen and Nexgram was flat at 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was weaker 41.05 points to 11,910.06, the FBMT 100 was down 35.86 points to 11,589.74 and the FBM Emas Syariah was lower by 55.92 points to 13,182.22.
The FBM 70 index declined 112.57 points to 15,652.65 and the FBM ACE was 23.38 points lower at 10,613.97.
By sector, the Financial Services Index fell 8.61 points to 15,559.31, the Plantation Index decreased 17.50 points to 7,142.29 and the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 1.34 points to 192.63.
