KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today in line with weakness across global equities as China’s coronavirus outbreak hits sentiment ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays.

At 9.24am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.27 points lower at 1,574.17 from yesterday’s close of 1,574.44, after opening 0.84 points weaker at 1,573.60.

The overall market breadth on Bursa Malaysia was negative with losers edging gainers 200 to 145, while 201 counters remained unchanged, 1,426 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 255.63 million shares worth RM137.68 million.

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PublicInvest Research said US stocks ended mixed Thursday, recovering from early losses as investors digested earnings reports and took heart from a decision by the World Health Organization not to declare China’s coronavirus outbreak a global emergency.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 26.18 points down at 29,160.09 but the S&P 500 index closed 3.79 points up at 3,325.50, and the Nasdaq Composite Index recovered to gain 18.71 points to end at 9,402.48 for a record close.

“Malaysian shares also took cue from Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) overnight policy rate (OPR) cut to 2.75 per cent from three per cent yesterday.

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“In the region, stocks sold off sharply, with the China CSI 300 losing 3.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index down 1.5 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 losing one per cent,” it said in a note.

Of the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank added three sen to RM8.54, Public Bank gained 12 sen to RM19.26, while Tenaga lost 26 sen to RM12.56 and Petronas Chemicals was unchanged at RM6.93.

Among the actives were Sapura Energy, which eased half-a-sen to 26.5 sen, Comintel rose 16 sen to 25 sen and Supermax was four sen higher at RM1.56.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 5.93 points to 11,250.89, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 24.29 points to 11,959.02, the FBMT 100 Index lost 5.89 points to 11,036.57, the FBM 70 was 24.06 points weaker at 14,206.03, and the FBM Ace added 60.06 points to 5,684.42.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.12 point to 152.36, the Financial Services Index was 33.52 points higher at 15,132.33 and the Plantation Index lost 4.38 points to 7,449.39.

Bursa Malaysia and its derivatives will only be trading half-day and be closed at 12.30pm today on the eve of the Chinese New Year holiday.

It would resume trading on Tuesday, January 28. — Bernama