KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Bursa Malaysia opened broadly lower, in early trading today, weighed by losses in heavyweights and bluechips like CIMB Group, Maybank, IHH Healthcare and Petronas Chemicals, a dealer said.     

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,681.2, down 20.04 points at 9.02 am after opening 14.01 points easier at 1,687.23.

“It is going to be a test of resilience for Malaysian equities today.

“Following the resumption of selling activity yesterday, the benchmark FBM KLCI could challenge the support levels of 1,700 and 1,675 head,” said HwangDBS Vickers Research in a note today.

With investors in the selling mood, the research firm said property counters on Bursa may take a hit today amid news that the government is considering an increase in real property gains tax to stabilise house prices.

On the corporate front, there were earnings disappointments for IJM Plantations and Lafarge Malaysia when their latest quarterly results were announced last evening.

On Bursa Malaysia, the Finance Index erased 214.22 points to 15,816.18, the Plantation Index trimmed 17.71 points to 8,124.97 and the Industrial Index declined 20.56 points at 2,826.3.

The FBM Emas Index came off 151.23 points to 11,632.39, the FBM100 Index lost 150.38 points to 11,401.78 and the FBM 70 Index gave up 232.81 points to 13,109.55.

Losers thumped gainers 357 to 18, while 89 counters were unchanged, 1,126 untraded and 36 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 79.589 million shares worth RM36.341 million. 

Among actives, the Media Shoppe and Sona Petroleum were both flat at 8.5 sen and 39 sen, respectively, but Instacom Group fell 7.5 sen to 28.5 sen. 

Heavyweights, Maybank lost 13 sen to RM9.73, CIMB erased 17 sen to RM7.21, Sime Darby slipped four sen to RM9.26, Axiata Group eased eight sen to RM6.40 and Maxis decreased seven sen to RM6.79. – Bernama