KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 ― The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened marginally lower on profit taking ahead of the weekend, dealers said.

At 9.01am, the FBM KLCI was 1.48 points easier at 1,689.43, against yesterday's close of 1,690.91. It opened 2.11 points lower at 1,688.80.

However, gainers slightly thumped losers 65 to 55, with 115 counters unchanged, 1,494 untraded and 20 others suspended.   

Turnover stood at 50.62 million shares worth RM14.13 million.

Maybank Investment Bank in its note said the FBM KLCI index was marginally lower today in line with the regional market trend, which was also tracking the US market.

“The US market ended mixed last night despite the latest European Central Bank's economic stimulus measures.

“A softer tone to crude oil also added to the selling. However, this is expected to be short-term, and we anticipate the index to be traded positively with further movement towards 1,700 and 1,710 today,” it said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.78, TNB rose six sen to RM13.36, and both Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals eased six sen to RM18.58 and RM6.77 respectively.

Among the actives, Borneo Oil fell half-a-sen to 13.5 sen, Red Sena went down one sen to 41 sen and Iris Corp and Tiger Synergy were flat at 16.5 sen and five sen respectively.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 14.33 points to 11,681.92, the FBMT100 Index eased 10.22 points to 11,398.43 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 10.45 points to 12,363.47.

The FBM 70 shed 12.34 points to 12,867.80 and the FBM Ace inched down 1.08 points to 5,622.82.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was higher by 38.75 points to 7,921.38, but the Industrial Index was down 13.87 points to 3,265.58 and the Finance Index contracted 15.71 points to 14,352.89. ― Bernama