Bursa Malaysia extends losses to open lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended losses from yesterday to open easier this morning on continued profit-taking in selected heavyweight counters, dealers said.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,751.17, falling four points from Monday's close of 1,755.17.
The index opened 0.98 of-a-point lower at 1,754.19.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 128 to 70, while 145 counters remained unchanged, with 1,557 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 73.24 million shares worth RM48.24 million.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd in a note said the market is expected to snap a two-day decline after Wall Street ended firmer overnight.
"That said, volatility will continue to stay elevated amid trade war worries.
"Technically, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade between 1,740 and 1,770 today, while the downside supports are 1,740 and 1,709," it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was down three sen to RM9.63, TNB fell eight sen to RM14.26, CIMB declined two sen to RM6.08, while Public Bank bagged 12 sen to RM24.14, with Petronas Chemicals unchanged at RM8.25.
Among the most actively traded stocks, MyEG gained two sen to 70.5 sen, UCrest rose one sen to 26.5 sen, Cuscapi increased half-a-sen to 16 sen, while Sapura Energy decreased half-a-sen to 58 sen and Ewein eased one sen to 84.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 6.10 points weaker at 12,249.64, the FBMT100 Index declined 7.55 points to 12,061.55, while the FBM Emas Syariah Index increased 32.45 points to 12,269.72.
The FBM Ace added 27.95 points to 5,075.69 and the FBM 70 improved 59.46 points to 14,600.15.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 150.85 points easier at 14,483.56, the Industrial Index depreciated 2.73 points to 3,194.76, but the Plantation Index rose 53.63 point to 7,698.34.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM159.74 per gramme, up 11 sen from RM159.63 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama