KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — Bursa Malaysia main index, the FBM KLCI opened on a lower note today after the slip on Friday, while other index are heading towards a downtrend on rising concerns of Covid-19 cases globally.

As at 9.15am, the main index was slightly lower by 1.04 points at 1,651.45 compared with Friday’s close of 1,652.49.

At the opening bell, the index down 3.64 points to 1,648.85.

The overall market breadth was neck to neck with gainers edging past losers 269 to 252, while 383 counters were unchanged, 1,263 untraded and 47 others suspended.

Volume stood at 553.42 million units worth RM172.88 million.

Volume stood at 553.42 million units worth RM172.88 million.

An analyst said the market would be on a bumpy ride today following global developments on new strains of Covid-19 cases found in London which had dampened the market over vaccine developments.

"Currently countries around the world have managed to secure part of the vaccination but with the new strain developing, economies are worried that the vaccine move is not enough to address the global health crisis,” she said.

This development has also led to stocks globally, including the Straits Times Index to slip 14.62 points to 2,834.36, Nikkei down 151.18 points to 26,612.21 points and Dow Jonnes Industrial shed 124.35 points to 30,179.05.

Bloomberg reported that UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new strain of the coronavirus was "out of control” and suggested parts of England to be stuck in the new, highest tier of restrictions until a vaccine is rolled out.

More than 16 million Britons are now required to stay at home after a lockdown came into force on Sunday in London and southeast England and the government scrapped plans to relax rules on socialising at Christmas.

On the technical benchmark, she said that the index is poised to hover between 1,645 and 1,670 throughout the day.

On the heavyweight performance, Petronas Dagangan down 74 sen to RMM20.50, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 26 sen to RM23.83, Telekom slipped seven sen to RM5.34 and IHH declined 10 sen to RM5.34.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 16.62 points lower at 11,873.90, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 144.15 points to 11,650.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 30.18 points to 13,304.20, the FBM 70 dropped 149.24 points to 15,218.60, while the FBM ACE added 23.42 points to 10,471.00.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.36 of-a-points to 176.05, while the Plantation Index slid 5.44 points to 7,344.36, and the Financial Services Index eased 17.64 points to 15,407.30. — Bernama