KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia were lower in early trade today following the weaker overnight performance on Wall Street which was uncertain of the US Federal Reserve policy outlook.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.16 points lower at 1,694.73 against yesterday's close of 1,699.89 points. It opened 4.32 points easier at 1,695.57 at 9am.

Losers outpaced gainers 130 to 121 while 217 counters were unchanged, 1,212 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 201.89 million shares worth RM57.11 million.                

A dealer said the weaker US equity market dampened buying interest in the local market.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 per cent to 18,552.02, the S&P 500 equity index eased 0.6 per cent to 2,178.15 while the Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.5 per cent to 5,227.11.

The FBM Emas Index gave up 27.02 points to 11,903.59, the FBMT 100 Index lost 28.35 points for 11,593.99 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 29.1 points to 12,563.46.

The FBM 70 lost 8.12 points to 13,669.04 but the FBM Ace was 18.63 points higher at 5,604.85.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 32.77 to 14,544.52 and the Plantation Index gained 8.71 points to 7,746.16 while the Industrial Index erased 18.41 points to 3,199.06.

Among heavyweights, TNB and IHH were flat at RM14.80 and RM6.68, respectively, Maybank lost two sen to RM8.03 and Public Bank was six sen lower at RM19.74.

Of actives, Iris and Censof both added one sen to 22 sen, respectively, while TH Heavy Engineering and Vivocom were flat at 19.5 sen and 28.5 sen, respectively. ― Bernama