KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today as profit-taking emerged among the heavyweights while cautious sentiments abound in the regional markets, dealers said.

At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.82 of-a-point to 1,512.16 from Wednesday’s close of 1,512.98.

The barometer index opened 3.63 points easier at 1,509.35.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 304 to 155, while 310 counters were unchanged, 1,455 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 421.14 million units worth RM261.50 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities said the FBM KLCI, together with the FBM Small Cap pulled back for another session on Wednesday as profit-taking activities kicked in before the Federal Territory holiday break yesterday.

Meanwhile, it said the United States (US) stock markets turned volatile after the US Federal Reserve concluded the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) with the interest rates unchanged, affirming that the US interest rate is at its peak. Still, it commented that a March rate cut is unlikely.

“Hence, the market is pricing in rate cuts that may happen in the second half of 2024 (2H24) and will monitor closely the corporate earnings and employment reports later today,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.26, Public Bank added 3.0 sen to RM4.42, while CIMB and Petronas Chemicals slipped 1.0 sen each to RM6.22 and RM6.76, respectively, and Tenaga Nasional fell 8.0 sen to RM10.64.

As for the actives, Minetech went up 1.0 sen to 15.5 sen and TSA Group rose 4.0 sen to 59 sen, while MRCB declined 4.0 sen to 61 sen and TWL Holdings eased half-a-sen to 3.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 17.10 points weaker at 11,226.23, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 13.23 points to 10,890.59, the FBM 70 Index shed 48.58 points to 15,137.34, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 33.88 points to 11,244.21 and the FBM ACE Index went down 2.33 points to 4,752.70.

Sector-wise, the Property Index shed 14.24 points to 906.64, the Plantation Index lost 5.73 points to 7,165.13 and the Energy Index erased 4.49 points to 890.61.

The Financial Services Index bagged 28.08 points to 16,971.07 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.58 of-a-point to 172.53. — Bernama