Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning due to a lack of positive catalysts.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index declined 11.69 points to 1,518.46 from 1,530.15 at Wednesday's close.
Bernama reported that the key index opened 4.25 points lower at 1,525.9.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by 482 to 61, while 196 counters were unchanged, 1,449 untraded and 10 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 505.69 million units worth RM208.95 billion.
Malacca Securities expects the ongoing movement controls in several localities as well as the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia to continue to affect the local bourse.
"There are several developments in the political arena that may contribute to market instability," he said in a research note today.
The firm added that the technology sector may continue its upward trend, in line with the positive performance on the Nasdaq.
In addition, investors may focus on glove stocks for short-term trading, taking into account the still-rising COVID-19 case, ”Malacca Securities said.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank fell two sen to RM8.04 and RM4.06, Petronas Chemicals fell eight sen to RM8.01, TNB fell four sen to RM9.67, IHH Healthcare fell nine sen to RM5.53 and CIMB dropped three sen to RM4.57.
For active stocks, Advance Synergy rose one sen to 17 sen, T7 Global gained 1.5 sen to 38 sen and Pelangi Publishing rose 7.5 sen to 44 sen, while KNM was flat at 17 sen, Serba Dinamik fell half a sen to 47.5 sen and Dagang Nexchange fell two cents to 69 cents.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 90.34 points to 11,075.78, the FBMT 100 Index fell 86.71 points to 10,780.79, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 108.02 points to 12,105.7.
FBM ACE fell 148.82 points to 7,290.92 and FBM 70 fell 130.24 points to 14,377.85.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 60.16 points to 14,990.05, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 2.22 points to 188.0, and the Plantation Index fell 33.25 points to 6,339.69.
