KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Bursa Malaysia opened broadly lower today, tracking the decline on Wall Street overnight on recessionary fears and spiking interest rates as sentiment remained jittery, a dealer said.

At 9.11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 9.94 points to 1,396.06 from Friday’s close of 1,406.00.

The market was closed yesterday, which was the replacement public holiday for the Maulidul Rasul celebration.

The benchmark index opened 5.42 points lower at 1,400.58.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 200 to 42, while 59 counters were unchanged, 2,058 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 243.77 million units worth RM121.44 million.

In a research note, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said trading on the local bourse was expected to be cautious today following yesterday’s broad-based decline regionally as the FBM KLCI would play catch down.

“Therefore, we anticipate the index to possibly trend within the 1,395-1,410 range as technology stocks may face some selling today,” it said.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the brokerage said the dissolution of the 14th Parliament over the weekend, paving the way for the 15th general election (GE15) should reignite some buying interest in the construction sector supported by the huge allocation in Budget 2023.

Among the Bursa heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare fell nine sen to RM8.56 and RM5.67, respectively, Public Bank eased two sen to RM4.24, Petronas Chemicals lost four sen to RM8.53, and CIMB inched up three sen to RM5.28.

Of the actives, Bumi Armada went down 1.5 sen to 38 sen, Advance Synergy gained 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen, Velesto lost half-a-sen to 11.5 sen, and MAG Holdings stayed flat at 18 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 70.30 points to 9,980.49, the FBM 70 weakened 92.69 points to 12,159.18, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 66.84 points to 9,731.70, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 81.11 points to 9,990.19, and the FBM ACE slipped 72.95 points to 4,636.02.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 77.64 points lower at 15,994.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.57 points to 171.48, the Plantation Index edged down 45.84 points to 6,421.48, and the Energy Index reduced 12.39 points to 684.80. — Bernama