KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today as market consolidation momentum continued, dealers said.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 3.66 points to 1,564.78 from Friday’s close of 1,563.58.

The barometre index opened 2.26 points lower at 1,566.18.

A dealer said technical indicators for the FBM KLCI pointed to further range-bound consolidation following last week’s mild oversold rebound from October lows, given the weak upside momentum and limited investor participation.

"Overhead index resistance is revised to the 50-day moving average at 1,581 while crucial support for the index stays at the October 10 pivot low of 1,548,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM8.53.

TNB lost 12 sen to RM13.30, Public Bank fell eight sen to RM19.08, Petronas Chemicals declined six sen to RM7.04 and CIMB erased five sen to RM5.15.

Of actives, Tiger Synergy and TDM added one sen each to 10 sen and 28.5 sen respectively, Astral Asia gained 2.5 sen to 22 sen and Notion Vtec climbed six sen to RM1.03.

Priceworth was flat at 4.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 10.08 points to 11,713.89, the FBM Emas Index erased 13.11 points to 11,120.46 and the FBMT 100 Index decreased 15.51 points to 10,924.19.

The FBM 70 increased 21.62 points to 13,870.7 and the FBM Ace rose 34.5 points to 4,918.83.  

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 39.28 points to 7,400.59 while the Financial Services Index erased 19.54 points to 15,202.67 and the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.22 of-a-point to 149.8.

On the broader market, there were 210 gainers and 95 losers, while 223 counters were unchanged, 1,448 untraded and 30 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 221.38 million shares worth RM72.73 million. — Bernama