Bursa Malaysia opens lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was lower in early trade led by losses in key heavyweights, dealers said.
At 9.55am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 6.29 points to 1,637.46 from 1,643.75 yesteday after opening 1.90 points lower at 1,641.85.
Dealers said investors remained cautious amid news that the European Central Bank would scale down quantitative easing.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 192 to 154, while 244 counters remained unchanged, with 1,110 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 224.4 million shares worth RM105.9 million.
The FBM Emas Index lost 39.15 points to 11,445.06, the FBMT100 Index reduced 40.49 points to 11,183.12 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index decreased 39.15 points to 11,445.06.
The FBM 70 shed 38.51 points to 13,115.75 and the FBM Ace trimmed 24.13 points to 4,716.84.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 26.02 points lower at 7,716.87, the Industrial Index fell 7.34 points to 3,090.22 and the Finance Index diminished 24.87 points to 14,329.01.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank slipped one sen to RM7.89, Tenaga Nasional dropped two sen to RM13.98, Public Bank was unchanged at RM19.62 and Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM6.89.
Of the actives, APFT Bhd remained unchanged at 3.5 sen, JAG Bhd was flat at 11 sen, KNM Group rose half a sen to 33 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum was unchanged at 30.5 sen.
The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM160.63 per gramme, down RM1.08 from RM161.71 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama