KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 ― Bursa Malaysia opened easier today as traders stayed on the sidelines in early trade.

At 9.20am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.14 point easier at 1,723.64 from yesterday's closing of 1,723.78, after opening lower at 1,722.46.

The lower opening was despite the firm overnight performance of Wall Street, a dealer said.

Decliners outpaced gainers by 170 to 142, with 204 counters unchanged, 1,214 untraded and 18 suspended.

Maybank Investment Bank Research in its morning note said with the positive close yesterday, the index may re-test the critical 62 per cent of technical “Fibonacci” retracement zone of 1,726 to 1,728 yet again.

Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Index fell 1.11 points to 11,969.21, the FBMT100 Index eased 0.77 point to 11,663.77 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 1.25 points to 12,526.20.

The FBM 70 declined 0.17 point to 13,292.66, while the FBM Ace fell 19.34 points to 5,747.72.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 12.08 points to 14,971.49, while the Industrial Index eased 18.10 points to 3,274.25 and the Plantation Index trimmed 1.29 points to 7,774.60.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped one sen to RM9.14, Tenaga rose eight sen to RM14.48 and Public Bank improved four sen to RM19.24.

Among the actively-traded stocks were Vivocom, AirAsia X, DBE Gurney, Tiger and XOX. ― Bernama