KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Wednesday, after Wall Street’s stronger performance overnight, a dealer said. 

At 9.12am, the FBM KLCI had slipped 1.80 points to 1,433.37, from Tuesday’s closing at 1,435.17. 

The benchmark index opened 0.42 point weaker at 1,434.75.

On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 187 to 117, while 257 counters were unchanged, 1,781 untraded, and 10 suspended.

Turnover stood at 265.52 million units worth RM99.78 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended broadly higher, as traders returned as buyers, spurred by the declining yield, as funds found their way into bonds deemed a safe haven, amid the ongoing Israel/Hamas conflict.

“As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 135 points overnight, while the Nasdaq added 79 points, as the US 10-year yield eased to 4.657%.

“In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed 147 points higher, buoyed by inflows of funds from mainland China, and the latest comments that the US Federal Reserve may potentially pause rate adjustments in November, after recent aggressive tightening," he told Bernama. 

Back home, he expects buying into banking counters to persist, together with telecommunications stocks, after the strong profit-taking in the past month.

“Therefore, we believe the index could scale higher, and hover within the 1,435-1,445 range today (Wednesday), in view of the improving sentiments," he added.

Among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional Bhd increased two sen to RM9.99, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lost four sen to RM7.26, and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) at RM8.88, Public Bank Bhd at RM4.12 and CIMB Group Bhd Holdings Bhd at RM5.54 had slid one sen each.

Of the actives, KNM Group Bhd inched up half a sen to 12.5 sen, ACO Group Bhd went up four sen to 27 sen, and UEM Sunrise Bhd gained one sen to 88 sen, while Sapura Energy Bhd at five sen and Kinergy Advancement Bhd at 33 sen were both flat.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 5.37 points to 10,623.91, the FBMT 100 Index went down 7.04 points to 10,287.50, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 1.04 points to 10,886.28, and the FBM ACE Index decreased 33.68 points to 5,159.83, while the FBM 70 Index rose 15.73 points to 14,152.27.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index erased 17.20 points to 16,092.48, the Energy Index was 1.07 points lower at 873.79, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.16 of a point to 172.67, while the Plantation Index recovered 1.16 points to 6,899.94.