KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 ― Bursa Malaysia opened lower today due to emerging profit taking in selected heavyweights following yesterday’s gains, tracking the weaker performance on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.70 points to 1,588.98 from yesterday’s close of 1,596.68.

The index opened 5.03 points weaker at 1,591.65.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 393 versus 62, while 172 counters were unchanged, 1,664 untraded and 43 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 149.69 million worth RM71.27 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street experienced another selling spree ahead of earnings results from mega technology companies on fears over an economic slowdown.

The Dow Jones Index Average declined by 809 points while the Nasdaq lost 514 points to end at a new 52-week low, despite the US 10-year yield easing to a week low of 2.73 per cent.

“Nonetheless, we reckon the index would see some profit taking today on heightened regional volatility attributed to the steep losses on Wall Street. We expect the index to hover within the 1,585-1,600 range today,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thong said crude palm oil rebounded above the RM7,000 per tonne on concerns over the supply side.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost two sen to RM8.93, Public Bank slid one sen to RM4.71, Petronas Chemicals decreased 10 sen to RM10.12, CIMB inched down four sen to RM5.15, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.65.

Of the actives, Techna-X, Saudee and TWL were flat at 11 sen, 5.5 sen and 8.5 sen, respectively, Dagang Nexchange slipped 2.5 sen to 99.5 sen, and PUC eased half-a-sen to 11 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 69.47 points weaker at 11,351.65, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 93.27 points to 11,901.09, the FBM 70 dropped 129.11 points to 13,519.0, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 65.30 points to 11,011.83, and the FBM ACE lost 80.66 points to 5,537.75.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 2.09 points to 208.04, the Financial Services Index fell 38.05 points to 16,796.44, and the Plantation Index went down 32.22 points to 8,756.24. ― Bernama