KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower today due to selling pressure in selected heavyweights, with investors possibly positioning themselves ahead of the Budget 2024 tabling next week, a dealer said.
“Given that Wall Street ended on a negative tone, we expect selling interest to emerge within the technology sector on the local front, while the energy sector could remain pressured amid declining Brent oil prices,” the brokerage said in a note today. At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slid 3 points to 1,417.01 from Tuesday’s closing of 1,420.01.On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 280 to 57, while 209 counters were unchanged, 1,748 untraded and 24 suspended.Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were unchanged at RM8.77 and RM7.0 respectively, while Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional shed 1 sen to RM4.05 and RM9.96, respectively, and CIMB fell 2 sen to RM5.39.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 29.86 points to 10,505.51, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 27.9 points to 10,174.06, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 31.22 points to 10,792.28.