KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower in early trade today, taking cue from its lower regional peers and weaker US markets last Friday, dealers said.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.88 points lower at 1,632.91 from 1,637.79 on Friday.
It opened 6.06 points easier at 1,631.73.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 94 to 83, with 138 counters unchanged, 1,405 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 62.53 million shares worth RM33.76 million.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) decision to raise interest rates last week, sparked off an outflow of foreign capital from emerging markets.
The Fed raised its target for short-term interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to a range of 0.50 per cent and 0.75 per cent.
Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Index lost 24.79 points to 11,427.71, the FBMT100 Index shed 26.18 points to 11,154.17 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 26.72 points to 11,966.72.
The FBM 70 was down 3.38 points to 13,090.78, but the FBM Ace rose 2.53 points to 4,753.24.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 3.65 points to 7,738.39 and the Finance Index shed 37.95 points to 14,318.59.But. the Industrial Index gained 3.02 points to 3,087.17.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM7.91, Tenaga declined four sen to RM13.72 and Public Bank eased eight sen to RM19.72.
Of the losers, Prolexus fell 11 sen to RM1.39, Axiata Group eased 10 sen to RM4.58 and Maxis dipped nine sen to RM5.91.
Among the actives, Rhone Ma increased seven sen to 82 sen, Pallette Multimedia gained one sen to seven sen and KNM Group added half-a-sen to 32.5 sen. — Bernama
