KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 ― Bursa Malaysia opened lower today in extending yesterday’s losses but rebound thereafter despite the weaker overnight performance of US stocks.

Wall Street snapped its 5-days winning streak to end sharply lower amid concerns over the economic, public health and the policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At 9.08am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 3.04 points to 1,569.76 from yesterday’s close of 1,566.72.

The index opened 4.64 points lower at 1,562.08.

Overall market breadth was positive with gainers led losers 209 to 184, while 271 counters were unchanged, 1,272 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 419.23 million shares worth RM195.76 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd in a note said Wall Street experienced a pull-back citing fears of the rising coronavirus cases in the US.

The Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) Average lost almost 400 points to close below the 26,000 level, therefore the regional markets might see some form of correction today, it said.

"On the local front, we expected profit taking to continue following the robust performance over the past week.

"As such we expected the FBM KLCI to take a breather again today and trend on a narrow range of between 1,555 and 1,565 range,” it added.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank gained eight sen to RM17.48, Hartalega added four sen to RM16.66 and Top Glove increased 16 sen to RM20.30.

Maybank eased two sen to RM7.80 and Tenaga was flat at RM11.86.

Of the most active, Iris improved 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Permaju eased half-a-sen to 33 sen while MQ Technology, Sapura Energy and XOX were flat at 6.5 sen, 9.5 sen and six sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas was 11.89 points higher at 11,034.34, the FBMT 100 Index added 13.88 points to 10,887.30 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 16.88 points at 12,650.96.

The FBM 70 shed 11.55 points to 13,517.29 while the FBM ACE dropped 131.45 points to 7,115.45.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 3.42 points to 13,222.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.30 of a point to 139.37 but the Plantation Index improved 23.24 points to 6,846.97. ― Bernama