KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia started Wednesday on a weaker note on the heels of Wall Street's negative overnight performance as bullish retail sales data raised the possibility of a less dovish stance by the US Fed.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was 1.91 points lower at 1,667.03. Trading volume was 299.05 million shares valued at RM85.79mil. There were 138 decliners versus 81 gainers and 164 counters unchanged.

The local benchmark index continues to show consolidation on the technical charts while the momentum indicators suggest weakness.

"From here, resistances can be found at 1,700 (R1). A break above should see the index trend higher towards 1,730 (R2). 

"Conversely, downside supports can be identified at 1,650 (S1) and 1,600 (S2)," said Kenanga research in its outlook.  

The top actively traded counters were Stone rising 10 sen to 26 sen, Sapura Energy falling 0.5 sen to 30.5 sen and KNM gaining 0.5 sen to 40.5 sen.

Among the KLCI heavyweights, leading decliners including Tenaga Nasional slipping eight sen to RM13.70, Hong Leong Financial Group dropping six sen to RM18.62 and IHH sliding three sen to RM5.77.

Top gainers were Petronas Dagangan gaining six sen to RM24.68 and Press Metal adding three sen to RM4.42.

Early opening indices were also in the red, including Japan's Nikkei Index falling 0.3% and South Korea's Kospi Index dropping 1.1%. Australia's ASX200 Index gained 0.3%.

In oil markets, prices stabilised after a rout overnight that saw losses of over 3%. 

Brent crude rebounded 16 cents to US$64.51 a barrel and US crude added one cents to US$57.53 a barrel.