KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher but retreated thereafter, extending yesterday’s downward trend as investors stayed on the sidelines due to lack of direction despite the better overnight performance of Wall Street.

At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.58 of-a-point to 1,584.15 from yesterday's close of 1,584.73.

The index opened 0.26 of-a-point better at 1,584.99.

The overall market breadth on Bursa was positive with gainers outnumbered losers 177 to 80, while 186 counters remained unchanged, 1,516 untraded and 18 others suspended.  

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Turnover amounted to 114.56 million shares worth RM56.67 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd in a note expected a mild rebound as investors bargain hunt on recent beaten-down stocks, whilst the impending signing of Sino-US trade agreement this week could cushion further weakness.

“Although the key index is teetering near four-week low and the near term outlook still frail, we reckon the consolidation may continue to take shape as the key index may recover towards the resistances located at 1,600 and 1,615 respectively.

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“In the meantime, the 1,575 level will serve as the immediate support, followed by the 1,550 level,” it said.

The research house said, in contrast, the lower liners continue to demonstrate resilience on the back of rotational play.

“Therefore, we think that trading interest could remain firm as traders continue to capitalise on the recent uptrend and the aforementioned condition may prolong till the coming Lunar New Year when investors may start to lock in their gains,” it added.

Of heavyweights, Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM8.65 and RM7.10 respectively, Public Bank and CIMB added two sen each to RM19.24 and RM5.22, while Tenaga eased two sen to RM12.94.

Among actives, MYEG rose eight sen to RM1.20, Sapura Energy, Dynaciate and Vortex each declined half-a-sen to 28.5 sen, 7.5 sen and 16.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went up 5.59 points to 11,316.00 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 4.26 points higher at 11,984.02.

The FBMT 100 Index strengthened 3.79 points to 11,103.06 the FBM 70 gained 37.01 points to 14,277.42 while the FBM Ace increased 21.04 points to 5,523.92.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.18 of a point to 152.94, the Financial Services Index gained 10.75 points to 15,463.25 but the Plantation Index down 14.17 points to 7,662.57. — Bernama