KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower in line with weaker Wall Street performance overnight. 

At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.93 points or 0.32 per cent to 1,522.96 from Monday’s close of 1,527.89. 

It opened 3.18 points weaker at 1,524.71. 

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 447 to 63, while 240 counters were unchanged, 1,522 untraded and five others suspended.

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Turnover stood at 294.19 million units worth RM131.66 million.

Given the negative Wall Street performance, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the market might perform knee-jerk selling at the opening bell and bargain-hunting activities might emerge once the selling pressure was overdone.

“In the meantime, government discussion on the possibility of allowing interstate tourism, which may be seen as a mode for gradual economic recovery, might be one of the few catalysts to cushion the downside risk for the near term,” the brokerage said in a research note today. 

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 Malacca Securities said investors may collect bashed-down recovery-themed stocks, targeting tourism and consumer sectors amid the upcoming discussion whether to green-light interstate travel nationwide to boost domestic tourism.

“Also, traders may look out for strong momentum counters within the technology sector for extension of buying interest today,” it added. 

Among the heavyweights, CIMB rose one sen to RM4.81, Axiata gained two sen to RM3.97, and Press Metal and Maxis were flat at RM5.65 and RM4.67, respectively. Meanwhile, Maybank and Public Bank eased two sen each to RM8.28 and RM4, respectively, and Petronas Chemicals shed five sen to RM7.90.  

Of the actives, Emico increased three sen to 57.5 sen, Impiana edged up half-a-sen to nine sen, and Bintai Kinden was 1.5 sen higher at 57.5 sen. EA Holdings and Yong Tai were flat at two sen and 16 sen, respectively, while Sanichi and Dagang NeXchange inched down half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 75.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 47.04 points to 11,158.58, the FBMT 100 Index was 42.25 points lower at 10,869.31, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 66.05 points to 12,115.39, the FBM 70 trimmed 84.85 points to 14,717.30, and the FBM ACE lost 75.06 points to 6,931.55. 

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 1.44 points to 6,239.83, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 0.72 of-a-point to 195.93, and the Financial Services Index slipped 30.82 points to 15,203.58. — Bernama