KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning with the benchmark index retreating from yesterday's uptrend, dampened by weak sentiment globally amid rising geopolitical worries over the United States and North Korea.

At 9.06 am,  the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.14 points lower at 1,778.51 against Tuesday's close of 1,781.65.

The benchmark index opened 4.35 points easier at 1,777.3.

There were 105 gainers and 100 decliners with 178 counters unchanged, 1,450 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

US stocks market were down last night following President Donald Trump's remarks that the country would respond aggressively to any threats from North Korea and that the latter would be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

This sparked worries among investors, sending healthcare and consumer stocks into a selling spree with the Dow Jones industrial snapping its 10-day winning streak.

It was reported that North Korea was seriously considering missiles strike on Guam in respond to Trump's threat.

Back home, MaybankIB Research said as the Dow retreated, Bursa might take a breather today where technically the benchmark FBMKLCI could potentially trade between 1,770 and 1,785.

“Downside supports are seen at 1,748 and 1,729,” it said in a note today.

Of heavyweights, Public Bank and CIMB gained two sen each to RM20.64 and RM6.78. respectively, and Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM7.03.

Sime Darby trimmed three sen to MR9.38 while both Maybank and Tenaga slipped two sen each to RM9.78 and RM14.20, respectively.

Petron was the biggest loser, declining 25 sen to RM9.05, with 20,000 shares transacted, followed by Ajinomoto and Unisem, which lost 10 sen and nine sen each to RM26.20 and RM3.98 respectively.

Among active counters, Hubline was flat at six sen, Frontken inched down half-a-sen to 33.5 sen while Hibiscus edged up half-a-sen to 46 sen.

The FBM Emas Index fell 10.39 points to 12,634.24, FBMT 100 Index contracted 11.12 points to 12,289.27 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 16.33 points to 12,746.91.

However, the FBM 70 was 26.51 points firmer at 14,958.3 and FBM Ace bagged 6.44 points to 6,450.59.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 5.17 points to 16,884.66, the Plantation Index added 2.63 points to 7,870.76 but the Industrial Index decreased 10.51 points to 3,267.47. — Bernama