KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Thursday, extending Wednesday's selling activities in most indices, following a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, a dealer said. 

At 9.13am, the FBM KLCI had fallen by 2.90 points to 1,443.17, from Wednesday’s close at 1,446.07. 

The benchmark index opened 1.73 points weaker at 1,444.34.

Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers by 220 to 132, while 285 counters were unchanged, 1,731 untraded, and 63 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 283.68 million units worth RM144.92 million.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although traders remained optimistic about US equities as the market approached the final month of 2023,  the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13 points, and the Nasdaq dipped by 23 points, as the US 10-year Treasury yield declined to 4.25%.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slumped 361 points to below the 17,000 level, as investors’ confidence was hammered by a selldown of major technology companies.

Meituan, China’s top food delivery platform sank 12%, after it warned of shrinking demand for its services.

On the home front, the KLCI closed over two points lower at just above the 1,445 mark [on Wednesday], as the market undertone remained cautious, due to regional weaknesses and a lack of fresh catalysts.

“Nonetheless, we noticed foreign inflows were still positive, hence lending hopes that the local bourse may rebound anytime soon, amid the easing US Treasury yields.

“For today (Thursday), we expect the index to trend in the 1,445-1,455 range,” Thong told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) eased one sen to RM9.03 a share, Public Bank Bhd was up by one sen to RM4.24, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd shed two sen to RM5.62, Tenaga Nasional Bhd eased four sen to RM9.84, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was seven sen lower at RM7.01, and IHH Healthcare Bhd dipped two sen to RM5.81.

As for the most active counters, Top Glove Corp Bhd eased half a sen to 85.5 sen, Velesto Energy Bhd at 23.5 sen and Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd at 75 sen had added 1.5 sen each, while Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd at 2.5 sen and PDZ Holdings Bhd at four sen were both flat.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 24.73 points lower at 10,674.72, the FBMT 100 Index lost 24.34 points to 10,341.54, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 28.63 points to 10,831.12.

The FBM 70 Index dipped 48.68 points to 14,155.84, and the FBM ACE Index shed 0.53 of a point to 5,043.09.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 24.47 points to 16,247.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.86 of a point to 170.86, but the Energy Index rose by 3.03 points to 824.88, while the Plantation Index was 37.14 points easier at 6,976.37.