KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 —  Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower today, as losers outpaced gainers in the broader market due to lack of fresh catalysts.

At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.45 points to 1,521.87 from Wednesday’s close of 1,526.32.

The index opened 1.81 points easier at 1,524.51.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 237 versus 202, while 259 counters were unchanged, 1,246 untraded and 38 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 537.38 million units worth RM249.95 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities expects the nibbling to continue in the local bourse, allowing the key index to trade in a consolidation manner following the recent pullback.

“Any gains, however, may be tempered by new clusters of Covid-19 infections coupled with the geopolitical tension between India and China as well as South Korea and North Korea,” it said in a note today.

The weaker performance of the local bourse was also in line with the overnight performance of Wall Street.

The US stock markets snapped its three-day winning streak as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6 per cent amid the lingering concern over the rising Covid-19 cases in several states in US and China.

Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, IHH Healthcare gained one sen to RM5.40, Hartalega rose six sen to RM12, TNB was flat at RM11.88, Maybank fell three sen to RM7.74, Public Bank declined 24 sen to RM16.72, Petronas Chemicals trimmed 12 sen to RM6.38 and Maxis shed seven sen to RM5.38.

Of the most actives, MQ Technology, DGB Asia, Velesto and AT Systematization edged up half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen, 2.5 sen, 16 sen and 13.5 sen, respectively, Genting Malaysia rose three sen to RM2.77, Sapura Energy was flat at 9.5 sen and Bumi Armada slipped one sen to 24 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 26.35 points at 10,698.02, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 26.15 points to 10,554.56 and the FBM 70 narrowed 13.19 points to 13,102.16.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 25.94 points easier to 12,087.8, and the FBM ACE inched down 0.92 of-a-point to 5,979.21.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was lower by 0.91 of-a-point to 135.22, the Financial Services Index depreciated 66.84 points to 13,151.61, while the Plantation Index advanced 8.34 points to 6,783.38. — Bernama