KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 ― Bursa Malaysia extended losses for the third consecutive day as investors adopted cautious trading given the overnight losses on Wall Street amid concerns over US bond yield, weaker oil prices, and intensifying Covid-19 cases in Europe.

At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.81 points to 1,592.49 after slumping below 1,600 points to end at the day’s low of 1,616.73 yesterday.

The index was 0.83 of-a-point weaker at 1,591.66 at 9 am.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 386 to 198, while 328 counters were unchanged, 1,311 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 725.96 million shares worth RM284.99 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street suffered another setback as the Dow Jones fell 0.9 per cent, dragged down by the sudden spike in global Covid-19 cases which may derail the pace of economic recovery.

"European stock markets ended mostly lower, while Asian stock markets ended mostly lower on new rounds of sanctions in China following the violation of human rights in Xinjiang,” it said.

The stockbroking firm also said that the recovery theme could take a pause for now after the recent relief rally amid weaker sentiment across the globe.

Meanwhile, it reckoned there will be some buying support in plantation counters or process equipment companies amid firmer crude palm oil price.

"Also, semiconductor counters may perform a rebound on the back of stronger demand and production for chips,” it said in a note.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was two sen lower at RM8.25, PBBank and Tenaga earned two sen each at RM4.20 and RM10.72, respectively, PChem erased one sen to RM7.91, while IHH was flat at RM5.31.

As for active counters, SMI gained 8.5 sen at 26.5 sen, Widad and Tecfast perked up 1.5 sen each to 52.5 sen and 52 sen, respectively, while Nexgram, BJCorp and SapNRG were all flat at five sen, 26.5 sen and 15 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 30.89 points to 11,698.23, the FBMT 100 eased 25.58 points to 11,378.29, and the FBM Emas Shariah edged down 23.14 points to 12,997.75.

The FBM 70 lost 56.18 points to 15,453.89 and the FBM ACE was 13.92 points easier at 10,497.69.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 37.7 points to 15,247.52, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.61 of-a-point to 189.81, while the Plantation Index inched up 3.71 points to 7,138.91. ― Bernama