KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower on subdued demand amid the bearish performance on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

Thirteen-minutes after the opening, the FBM KLCI stood 1.77 points lower at 1,800.84, after opening 1.76 points easier at 1,800.85.

Gainers led losers 122 to 90, with 180 counters unchanged, 1,230 untraded and 14 others were suspended.   

Turnover stood at 119.38 million shares worth RM60.17 million.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said Wall Street ended broadly flat last night as investors awaited fresh market leads from incoming data.

On the local bourse, it said selective buying interest in Malaysian equities could be seen today with the benchmark FBM KLCI probably edging away gradually from the psychological mark of 1,800.

In terms of corporate developments, the research house said stocks that could attract interest today include Coastal Contracts, after it secured a RM318 million contract to supply six offshore support vessels.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index fell 5.619 points to 16,870.32, the Plantation Index lost 22.01 points to 8,391.02 and the Industrial Index was 0.82 of a point lower at 3,093.72.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 5.92 points to 12,550.77, the FBMT100 Index declined 8.48 points to 12,278.02 but the FBM Ace rose 3.88 points to 5,552.74 and the FBM 70 increased 4.87 points to 14,385.64.

Among actives, Sumatec-OR lost eight sen to 11 sen, Talam was flat at seven sen while Kinstel rose half-a-sen to 27 sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata lost one sen each to RM9.98 and RM6.90, respectively, while CIMB fell three sen to RM7.61. — Bernama