KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 ― Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened lower today due to lesser support from investors for local counters, dealers said.

This is despite the Malaysian economy growing at a higher than expected 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the market expectation of 4.0 per cent.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.69 points easier at 1,624.57, from Friday's close of 1,628.26.

The index opened 0.26 of a point better at 1,628.52.        

Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 128 to 99, while 160 counters were unchanged, 1,324 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover in early trade stood at 175.50 million shares worth RM63.62 million.

Affin Hwang Capital in its note today said it was maintaining the gross domestic product projection of 4.5 per cent this year for Malaysia.

“Going forward, the question remains whether this growth is sustainable, where domestic demand can continue to gather momentum in the remaining quarters of 2016 to offset for slower external demand.

“The heavy build-up of inventories in first quarter this year is a concern as it reflected that manufacturers have started to increase production in anticipation of higher demand from domestic as well as overseas clients in the quarters ahead,” it said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.49, TNB and Public Bank fell four sen each to RM13.96 and RM19 respectively, while IHH was three sen higher at RM6.63.

Of the actives, LKL rose 9.5 sen to 29.5 sen, Hubline was flat at half-a-sen, AirAsia X added one sen to 39 sen and Dagang Nexchange gained two sen to 24 sen.

The FBM Emas Index lost 20.79 points to 11,381.08, the FBMT100 Index declined 20.98 points to 11,069.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 23.53 points to 11,882.25.

The FBM 70 eased 9.65 points to 12,886.79, but the FBM Ace rose 8.13 points to 5,770.97.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 7.42 points to 14,297.61, the Plantation Index slid 1.3 points to 7,454.16 and the Industrial Index contracted 6.51 points to 3,023.98. ― Bernama