At 9.05am the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 8.81 points at 1,503.41 from Friday's close of 1,512.22.
It opened lower on concerns over the emergence of a new variant of the Covid-19, the Omicron.
The index opened 4.43 points at 1,507.79.
On the broader market, investors saw losers outnumber gainers by 589 to 80, while 188 counters were unchanged, 1,455 untraded and 78 suspended.
Total turnover at 401.14 million units worth RM263.24 million.
A note issued by Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd stated a new variant of Covid-19 known as Omicron may result in mixed sentiment as data such as infection and mortality rates will only be known in the next one to two weeks.
Meanwhile, tracking a modest rebound in overseas futures there may be little chance of a technical rebound on Monday but the upside is limited due to Covid-19 concerns.
Commodity markets saw crude oil prices fall 11% amid market concerns that the Covid-19 situation would lead to an oversupply of oil while crude palm oil prices fell.
Heavyweights saw Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) fall 8 sen to RM8.02, Public Bank Bhd fell 3 sen to RM3.97, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) declined 10 sen to RM8.33, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) minus 5 sen at RM9.33, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was down 14 sen at RM4.96 and IHH Healthcare Bhd remained at RM6.56.
Active stocks saw Careplus Group Bhd rise 13 sen to RM1.35 while Kanger International Bhd declined 0.5 sen to 3 sen and Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) fell 1.5 sen to 80 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index declined 92.01 points at 10,987.12, the FBMT 100 index declined 80.43 points at 10,682.22 and the FBM Emas Shariah index declined 62.20 points at 11,978.54.
The FBM 70 was down 178.29 points at 14,276.32 and the FBM ACE was down 91.37 points at 6,371.94.
The Products and Services Industry Index declined 3.14 points at 1199.63, the Financial Services index fell 178.58 points at 14,965.09 and the Plantation index fell 50.94 points at 6,414.10.
