KL shares opens lower in cautious trade

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower today i cautious trading amid weaker US sentiment, dealers said.
At 9.48 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI stood at 1,814.95.
A dealer said investors took a cautious approach after Saudi Arabia and its allies began a military operation in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the US market ended choppy in the overnight trade, declining for the fourth consecutive session.
"Investors remained nervous amid concerns over poor earnings prospects and worries that the Federal Reserve is moving closer to a rate hike," he said.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index decreased 15.4 points to 12,466.88 points and the FBMT100 eased 17.16 points to 12,154.28.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index lost 54.62 points to 16,046.13, the Plantation Index was down 15.11 points at 7,771.38 but the Industrial Index added 3.38 points to 3,351.66.
Gainers led losers 204 to 188 while 279 counters were unchanged and 1,108 were untraded.
Turnover stood at 437.77 million shares worth RM438.8 million.
Among actives, Ingenco earned half-a-sen to eight sen and Perisai and DGB added one sen each to 59.5 sen and 14 sen, respectively.
Of heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM9.20, Tenaga lot six sen to RM14.40 and Axiata slipped three sen to RM7.04.
Meanwhile the physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM137.38 per gramme, down 83 sen from RM138.21 at 5pm yesterday. – Bernama