KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today as investors took profits after the previous session’s gains, while persistent geopolitical uncertainties continued to weigh on sentiment.

At 9.02am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.92 points to 1,733.79 from yesterday’s close of 1,736.71.

The benchmark index opened 0.63 of a point higher at 1,736.08.

Market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 175 to 86. A total of 266 counters were unchanged, 2,345 untraded and 47 suspended.

Turnover stood at 77.90 million shares valued at RM46.67 million.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the addition of 20 stocks to the FBM KLCI in December should improve market velocity going forward.

“It is also heartening to finally see that there will be representation from the technology segment.

“For today, we expect the index to trend within the 1,730-1,745 range,” it said in a note.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB Group were flat at RM10.58 and RM7.98, respectively, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare each edged down one sen to RM5.11 and RM8.33, respectively. Tenaga Nasional slid eight sen to RM14.42.

On the most active list, Omesti, MAG Holdings and Comfort Gloves were flat at 8.5 sen, 16 sen and 17 sen, respectively. GIIB Holdings gained half a sen to 42.5 sen, while Notion VTec shed three sen to 50 sen.

Top gainers included Kuala Lumpur Kepong, which surged 24 sen to RM21.68, Petronas Gas, which added 12 sen to RM17.60, and Cnergenz, which gained 10.5 sen to 87.5 sen. CI Holdings and Can-One each rose nine sen to RM2.41 and RM1.59, respectively.

Among the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell RM1.18 to RM44.12, while Telekom Malaysia and Vitrox Corporation each lost 10 sen to RM8.00 and RM9.16, respectively. Kelington Group declined nine sen to RM8.91, and Petronas Chemicals Group slipped seven sen to RM4.30.

For the broader indices, the FBM 70 Index fell 49.35 points to 18,124.76, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 26.89 points to 12,631.68 and the FBM Emas Index weakened 24.72 points to 12,812.90.

The FBM Top 100 Index gave up 24.58 points to 12,631.64, while the FBM ACE Index decreased 6.01 points to 5,322.75.

By sector, the Plantation Index rose 13.34 points to 9,307.44, while the Financial Services Index edged down 1.76 points to 20,273.72. The Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.85 of a point to 186.70, while the Energy Index fell 0.47 of a point to 774.67. — Bernama