Bursa Malaysia's morning trading session started on a negative note, reflecting Wall Street's overnight movement shrouded in risk-off sentiment.
At 9am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 9.94 points at 1,416.14 from Tuesday's close of 1,426.09.
The index opened strong 4.65 points at 1,421.43.
On the broader market, losers at 211 outpaced gainers at 73, while 180 counters were unchanged, 1,786 untraded and 8 suspended.
Total turnover at 217.79 million units worth RM75.1 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng in his note confirmed that investor sentiment turned negative due to sluggish economic growth and inflationary pressures.
The local market, meanwhile, saw the KLCI expected to be in the range of 1,415-1,430 based on mostly mixed market conditions.
Heavyweights saw Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) fall 2 sen to RM8.62, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd fell 10 sen to RM8.18 and IHH Healthcare Bhd remained at RM6.39 while Public Bank Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd declined 3 sen at RM4.37 and RM5.09.
Active stocks saw Infoline Tec Group Bhd gain 1.5 sen at 33.5 sen, Metronic Global Bhd fell 1.5 sen at 6.5 sen, Reach Energy Bhd lost 1 sen at 3 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd was down 6 sen at 79.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index decreased 62.12 points at 10,053.96, the FBM Emas Shariah index decreased 74.23 points at 10,082.68, FBM 70 weakened 50.39 points at 12,054.25 and the FBMT 100 index contracted 62.35 points at 9,814.81 while the FBM ACE jumped at 4,579.81 while 0.51 points ACE jumped.
In terms of sector, the Financial Services index declined 57.85 points at 16,030.37, the Products and Services Industry index weakened 1.61 points at 168.60 and the Plantation index contracted 30.71 points at 6,689.22.
