KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower on weaker buying demand in selected heavyweights, however, the benchmark index managed to hold above the 1,700 points level.

At 9.26 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,714.36, down 3.84 points, after opening 2.32 points weaker at 1,715.88.

Losers outpaced gainers 193 to 161 while 214 counters were unchanged, 1,258 untraded and 32 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 300.62 million shares worth RM133.86 million. 

Heavyweights Maybank and Sime Darby lost three sen each to RM8.61 and RM8.67, respectively, Tenaga eased four sen to RM12.76 and Axiata was flat at RM6.40. 

Among actives were 1 Utopia, unchanged at four sen, The Media Shoppe added half-a-sen to 11 sen while AirAsia and VS Industry were up two sen each to RM1.59 and RM1.54, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was 17.97 points lower at 11,806.58, the FBMT100 Index lost 18.76 points to 11,508.34 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 6.46 points to 12,565.46.

The FBM Ace increased 5.37 points to 6,108.17 and the FBM 70 rose 5.09 points to 12,773.26.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index fell 54.25 points to 14,701.74, the Industrial Index depreciated 2.37 points to 3,348.23 while the Plantation Index appreciated 2.48 points to 7,518.71. — Bernama