KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Bursa Malaysia opened on a low note on Wednesday (Feb 22) morning, tracking the weaker Wall Street performance overnight. 

At 9.20am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid by 3.84 points to 1,470.17 from Tuesday’s close of 1,474.01, after opening 1.52 points easier at 1,472.49. 

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 361 to 110, while 261 counters were unchanged, 1,491 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 474.50 million units, worth RM181.30 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said he expects the key index to trend within the 1,470-1,480 range on Wednesday, as sentiments have turned cautious amid heightened volatility regionally.

“In view of the spike in the United States (US) Treasury yields, we suspect that technology stocks would face strong headwinds today.

“Oil and gas stocks may see some selling pressure, and the stronger US dollar had put pressure on crude oil prices, with the Brent crude now hovering below US$83 per barrel,” he added.

In the meantime, Bursa heavyweights IHH Healthcare Bhd added one sen to RM6.06, Digi.Com Bhd rose three sen to RM4.33, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd were flat at RM8.70 and RM5.44 respectively, while Public Bank Bhd eased one sen to RM4.14 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) declined six sen to RM8.30.

As for the actives, Capital A Bhd increased six sen to 73 sen and AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) jumped 21.5 sen to 89.5 sen, while Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd and Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd were flat at 19 sen and 9.5 sen respectively; Scope Industries Bhd dwindled two sen to 17 sen and MyEG Services Bhd shed 1.5 sen to 64.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 38.97 points to 10,672.66, the FBMT 100 Index went down 35.83 points to 10,349.68, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 50.30 points to 11,007.69, the FBM 70 Index dipped 84.35 points to 13,390.14, and the FBM ACE Index trimmed 46.83 points to 5,472.59. 

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index slid 11.0 points to 6,842.34, the Energy Index narrowed 10.90 points to 862.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.19 points weaker at 187.57, and the Financial Services Index lessened 11.25 points to 16,030.25.