KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today as concerns mount over West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices which breached below US$50 (RM 193.30) per barrel.

A dealer told Bernama that Asian stocks dropped after crude slid below $50 and currently lingered around US$45 a barrel.

At 9.07 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 16.9 points down at 1,727.29, after opening 14.1 points easier at 1,730.09.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 80.5 points to 11,908.38, the FBMT100 Index slid 87.89 points to 11,585.01 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index tumbled 139.39 points to 12,399.95.

The FBM 70 was down 2.77 points to 12,821.3. However, the FBM Ace was up 15.73 points at 6,282.46.

On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index rose 6.33 points to 7,412.76 and the Finance Index advanced 24.21 points to 15,488.21.

However, the Industrial Index lost 13.9 points for 3,244.31.

Losers led gainers 129 to 99, while 137 counters remained unchanged, 1,434 untraded and 13 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 57.1 million shares worth RM34.64 million.

Among actives, Yong Tai was down four sen at 74 sen, Konsortium Transnasional trimmed 1.5 sen to 29 sen, Solution Engineering declined one sen to 38.5 sen and KNM slid half-a-sen to 56.5 sen while Oceancash Pacific gained 1.5 sen to 41 sen.

For heavyweights, Public Bank increased two sen to RM19.08, Sime Darby added two to RM12.16 and Axiata lost 43 sen to RM6.42. — Bernama