Bursa Malaysia opens lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower today on lack of buying interest for local stocks, dealers said.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,745.36, down 3.89 points, from 1,749.25 recorded at Thursday's close.
The index opened 2.29 lower at 1,746.96.
On the broader market, however, gainers edged losers 183 to 93 with 241 counters unchanged, 1,204 untraded and 37 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 227.47 million shares worth RM67.15 million.
AllianceDBS Research said the risk of buying at the current level was high and the reward would be lower as the market was in an extended overbought situation.
"Buyers and sellers are having different market perception, thus, the index is likely to stay between 1,738 and 1,759 for the time being.
"The analysis of overall market action yesterday revealed that buying power was weaker than selling pressure and as such, the FBM KLCI would likely trade below the 1,746.05 level today," it said in a note.
Of heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM8.95, TNB rose six sen to RM13.80, Public Bank was flat at RM19.94, Sime Darby eased two sen to RM9.28 and Petronas Chemicals rose seven sen to RM7.72.
Of actives, SKH added half-a-sen to 10 sen, Vizione, Olympia and Daya Materials gained one sen each to 14 sen, 16 sen and 10 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index was 17.31 points lower at 12,395.31, FBM Emas Syariah Index decreased 20.70 points to 12,842.13 and the FBMT100 Index dipped 20.16 points to 12,043.12.
The FBM 70 increased 0.73 of-a-point to 14,594.85 and the FBM Ace improved 30.05 points to 5,752.72.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index added 2.51 points to 8,214.74 but the Industrial Index was 6.39 points lower at 3,257.48 and the Finance Index shed 13.85 points to 15,711.42.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM170.75 per gramme, down RM1.08 from RM171.83 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama