KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower today on a lack of buying, dealers said.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.10 points lower at 1,681.97, against yesterday’s close of 1,683.07.

It opened 2.90 points weaker at 1,680.17.

A dealer said the immediate resistance level for the local index today is anticipated at 1,701 points, the high of Aug 17, followed by the next level of 1,729 points, the previous high of March 23.

"To the downside, the immediate support level is situated at 1,663 points on the 200-day simple moving average. If a breakdown occurs, the next support is maintained at 1,642.50 points, which was the previous low of Aug 3,” he said.

The FBM Emas Index eased 9.63 points to 11,807.04, the FBMT 100 Index declined 9.90 points to 11.515.85, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index inched down 1.15 points to 12,442.6.

The FBM 70 weakened 23.22 points to 13,607.32, while the FBM Ace was 0.88 of-a-point higher at 5,435.31.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index fell 24.87 points to 14,472.72 and the Industrial Index declined 2.13 points to 3,143.36, while the Plantation Index improved 6.1 points to 7,852.18.

Losers led gainers 114 to 105, while 1,018 counters were unchanged, 451 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 548.67 million shares worth RM302.39 million.

Among heavyweights, TNB lost two sen to RM14.80 and Maybank and IHH eased one sen each to RM7.99 and RM6.67 respectively.

Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals gained two sen each to RM19.82 and RM6.68 respectively.

Of the actives, AirAsia X lost four sen to 42 sen, while RGB International, Iris, Destini and Thrive Property were flat at 18.5 sen, 17.5 sen, 79 sen and 8.5 sen respectively. — Bernama