Bursa Malaysia opens lower on Wall Street slide

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower across-the-board today, dragged down by a lower close on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was trading at 1,816.76 points, down 22.68 points from Thursday's close of 1,839.44.
It opened 32.63 points weaker at 1,806.81.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 645 to 24, while 87 counters were unchanged, 1,102 untraded and 31 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 270.58 million shares worth RM111.42 million.
On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 100.66 points or 3.75% to 2,581 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,032.89 points or 4.15% to 23,860.46.
A dealer said the correction on Wall Street emanated from worries among investors about inflation, and the possibility that the US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates faster and to a higher level than what they had expected, despite the strong US economy.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd said the key index is expected to remain volatile amid high level of uncertainty with the FBM KLCI is now in the midst of testing its 1,840 resistance level.
"Key support is likely at 1,800 psychological level, below which 1,767 is next," it said in a research note today.
It also remained its medium-to-longer term outlook, positive.
On a similar note, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd said it expected the index to technically trade between 1,820 and 1,845 today with downside support at 1,796 and 1,771.
On Bursa Malaysia, among heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM10.04, Tenaga eased 12 sen to RM15.68, Public Bank lost 18 sen to RM21.80, and CIMB gave up nine sen to RM7.01.
Of the top active counters, Borneo Oil was flat at eight sen, AirAsia X and UMWOG slipped 1.5 sen each to 38.5 sen and 30 sen, respectively, while PDZ contracted half-a-sen to eight sen.
Of the losers, Nestle declined RM1.00 to RM114.00, KESM down 90 sen to RM18.30 and Petronas Gas shed 54 sen to RM17.46.
The FBM Emas Index lost 195.24 points to 12,910.29, the FBMT 100 Index down 182.05 points to 12,642.01 and the FBM 70 erased 308.91 points to 15,743.52.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index dipped 217.17 points to 13,161.80 and the FBM Ace decreased 197.43 points to 6,002.40.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 215.41 points weaker at 17,448.19, the Industrial Index dipped 63.54 points to 3,206.82 and the Plantation Index shed 80.02 points to 7,888.51.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM161.58 per gramme, up RM1.61 from RM159.97 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama