KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Friday after a one-day break as a fall in Asian equities on Thursday dampened sentiment despite gains on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.99 points or 0.35% to 1,435.12 from Wednesday’s close of 1,440.11. The index opened 3.72 points easier at 1,436.39.

On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 188 to 158 while 288 counters were unchanged, 1,751 untraded and 98 suspended.

Turnover stood at 311.48 million units worth RM127.01 million.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed on Thursday in conjunction with Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (Maulidur Rasul).

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street closed higher overnight despite numerous headwinds, such as high treasury yields and a possible US government shutdown on Oct 1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 116 points while the Nasdaq gained 108 points as the US 10-year Treasury yield edged down to 4.579%, coming down from 16-year highs.

On the local front, the FBM KLCI ended lower at the 1,440 level on Wednesday due to a lack of fresh catalysts amid a mixed regional performance.

“Although we expect some degree of bargain hunting to return, the market undertone remains cautious, thus we expect the index to hover between 1,435 and 1,445 today (Friday),” Thong told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Malayan Banking Bhd lost two sen to RM8.86, Public Bank Bhd fell one sen to RM4.13 and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd slid three sen to RM5.52. Tenaga Nasional Bhd went down seven sen to RM9.95 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was five sen weaker at RM7.17.

Of the actives, Evergreen Max Cash Capital Bhd added two sen to 37 sen, Ekovest Bhd gained one sen to 57 sen, SWS Capital Bhd increased half-a-sen to 36.5 sen and Systech Bhd was 1.5 sen firmer at 41 sen while Sapura Energy Bhd was flat at 5.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 20.58 points to 10,642.56, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 21.97 points to 10,304.86 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 16.66 points to 10,905.14.

The FBM ACE Index weakened by 8.73 points to 5,149.94 while the FBM 70 Index advanced by 29.97 points to 14,197.22.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased by 0.20 of a point to 172.46, the Plantation Index narrowed by 12.19 points to 6,879.05 and the Financial Services Index fell 39.85 points to 16,083.78.

The Energy Index went up 3.45 points to 902.26.