Bursa opens lower on global sell off

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower, in trading today, in line with the overnight sell off in most global markets, dealer said.
At 9.07am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 11.71 points lower at 1,763.94 from yesterday's close of 1,775.65.
The index opened 10.27 points lower at 1,765.38 at 9 am.
Overall market breadth was neutral with gainers thumping losers 453 to 53 while 789 counters remained unchanged with 462 untraded and 31 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 537.87 million shares worth RM324.16 million.
Dealer said regional indices, including that for local bourse, was mired in the negative zone as confidence towards President Donald Trump had turned softer following his clash with former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and this had a negative impact on stock markets.
Among heavyweights, Petronas Gas shed two sen to RM18.84, IOI eased half-a-sen to RM4.55 but Hap Seng gained one sen to RM8.93 and YTL was flat at RM1.52.
Of actives, Netx and Priceworth International eased half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen and 28.5 sen, respectively, while Sumatec was flat at 6.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index gave up 87.19 points to 12,641.50, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 88.72 points to 12,267.95 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 101.43 points to 12,982.02.
The FBM 70 declined 137.37 points to 15,231.37 and the FBM Ace decreased 87.01 points to 6,383.42.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 41.42 points lower at 8,061.86, the Industrial Index declined 9.14 points to 3,259.19 and the Finance Index fell 80.53 points to 16,324.38.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM169.61 per gramme, up RM2.42 from RM167.19 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama