KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — Bursa Malaysia was lower in early trade today on a lack of catalysts, dealers said.

At 9.27am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.06 points lower at 1,687.01, against yesterday’s close of 1,691.07 points.

It opened 6.32 points weaker at 1,684.75.

A dealer said investors remained sidelined awaiting cues, including from the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve.

However, another dealer was more bullish over the local bourse today based on an analysis of the overall market action yesterday.

"The overall market action yesterday revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure. As such, the FBM KLCI will likely trade above the 1,691.07 level today,” he said.

The FBM Emas Index fell 37.71 points to 11,828.71, the FBMT 100 Index eased 38.811 points to 11.536.02, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index declined 48.08 points to 12,459.91.

The FBM 70 weakened 30.77 points to 13,637.12, while the FBM Ace was 1.27 points higher at 5,536.08.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index eased 27.15 points to 14,471.55 and the Plantation Index dropped 26.41 points to 7,832.45, the Industrial Index declined 23.78 points to 3,158.88.

Losers led gainers 120 to 65, while 161 counters were unchanged, 1,342 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 57.19 million shares worth RM19.03 million.

Among heavyweights, TNB eased two sen to RM14.78, as Maybank and Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM7.98 and RM6.67 respectively.

Public Bank and IHH were flat at RM19.80 and RM6.68.

Of the actives, Bioalpha improved 1.5 sen to 38 sen, while M3 Technologies and JAG slid half a sen each to 10 sen and 9.5 sen respectively.

DBE Gurney and Berjaya Corporation were flat at 5.5 sen and 34.5 sen. — Bernama