KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 ― Bursa Malaysia retreated from yesterday’s gain to open lower today, prompted by profit-taking activities in heavyweights and in line with most of its regional peers, dealers said.

At 9.19am, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 15.14 points to 1,397.98 from 1,413.12 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 5.89 points lower at 1,407.23.

Market breadth was bearish with losers thumped gainers 501 to only 81, while 198 counters were unchanged, 1,132 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 849.41 million shares worth RM332.81 million.

Malacca Securities said It was a tale of two half on the local bourse as the FBM KLCI was initially traded sharply higher before profit-taking activities took charge in the second half of the trading session yesterday.

"We remain no change to our views that the Malaysian stocks are increasingly toppish and warrant a consolidation. At the same time, the weakness on Wall Street, coupled with the slumping crude oil prices may add to further woes on the key index’s performance over the near term,” it said in a research note today.

Amid the increasingly challenging conditions, it said a pullback may leave the key index to be supported at the 1,400 level.

"In the event, the aforementioned level fails to hold, the next support is located at the 1,370 level. On the contrary, the 1,420-1,455 levels serve as the resistances.

"At the same time, we reckon that a pullback is also due for the lower liners and broader market shares to take a breather from their overbought position. A pullback will be a healthy move for investors to digest their recent gains before making move for further recovery,” it added.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped seven sen to RM7.62, TNB fell 12 sen to RM12.48, Public Bank decreased 22 sen to RM15.94, Petronas Chemicals contracted 17 sen to RM5.55 while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.32.

Of the actives, MSM Malaysia added five sen to 65 sen, AirAsia X went up 1.5 sen to 14 sen, but Hibiscus Petroleum shed three sen to 43.5 sen and Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 9.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 111.44 points weaker at 9,712.47, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 110.68 points to 10,730.64, while the FBMT 100 Index decreased 110 points to 9,592.80.

The FBM 70 lost 156.91 points to 11,488.17 and the FBM Ace declined 106.79 points to 4,406.84.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 2.54 points to 118.28, the Financial Services Index erased 174.08 points to 12,550.75 while the Plantation Index shed 8.54 points to 6,347.41. ― Bernama