KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower in the early session today in line with other global equity markets taken aback by the Bank of Japan’s suprise decision to hold the monetary policy.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 8.03 points lower at 1,666.73 from Thursday’s close of 1,674.76, after opening 3.24 points weaker at 1,671.52.

Market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 126 to 70, with 145 counters unchanged, 1,383 untraded and 36 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 58.36 million shares worth RM32.12 million.

Alliance DBS said the inability to turn the market around yesterday had created an unbalanced demand supply situation as willing sellers outnumbered willing buyers.

“The analysis of yesterday’s overall market action revealed that buying power was weaker than selling pressure and as such, the FBM KLCI would likely trade at below the 1,671.21 level today,” it said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slid four sen to RM8.86, TNB fell 14 sen to RM14.06, Public Bank shed six sen to RM18.64, Petronas slipped eight sen to RM6.62 and IHH was flat at RM6.57.

Of the active stocks, JAG Bhd and Sona Petroleum warrant added half-a-sen to ten sen and one sen respectively, Orion IXL gained 3.5 sen to 50.5 sen while SapuraKencana eased one sen to RM1.63.

The FBM Emas Index was 42.51 points lower at 11,617.44, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 34.94 points to 12,182.59, the FBMT100 Index declined 49.02 points to 11,308.08 and the FBM 70 eased 36.85 points to 12,992.66.

The FBM Ace improved 4.98 points to 5,612.14.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index slipped 74.60 points to 14,561.68 and the Plantation Index shed 2.70 points to 7,710.20, while the Industrial Index was down 7.40 points to 3,199.81. — Bernama