KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Monday, taking its cue from Wall Street’s weaker performance last Friday, and as the market turned cautious ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, said an analyst.

The US Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting will be held on Tuesday to Wednesday.

At 9.15am on Monday, the FBM KLCI had fallen 5.02 points to 1,547.81, from last Friday’s close at 1,552.83. 

The benchmark index opened 5.38 points easier at 1,547.45.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 257 to 209, while 325 counters were unchanged, 1,516 untraded, and 22 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 429.73 million units worth RM166.50 million.

"Despite the softer trading tone in the US, we expect the [recent] positive momentum to sustain on the local front, following the rebound in regional markets lately. The KLCI ended significantly higher last Friday, led by a spike in most of the heavyweight counters, despite the negative performance in regional stock markets," Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note on Monday. 

On the commodity markets, it noted that Brent oil trended firmer last week above the US$85 per barrel level, fuelled by stronger-than-expected US demand.

"With the positive trend in crude oil and palm oil recently, we expect traders to focus on the oil and gas and plantation sectors for the week," the brokerage said. 

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was flat at RM9.71, Public Bank Bhd added two sen to RM4.29, while CIMB Group Holdings Bhd at RM6.59 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd at RM6.88 had erased two sen each. Tenaga Nasional Bhd declined six sen to RM11.54. 

As for the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd at 1.5 sen, Sapura Energy Bhd at 4.5 sen, PDZ Holdings Bhd at four sen, and Techbase Industries Bhd at 25 sen were flat. Pan Malaysia Holdings Bhd weakened by 1.5 sen to 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 31.33 points weaker at 11,512.26, the FBMT 100 Index lost 34.55 points to 11,170.75, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 1.66 points to 4,707.40. The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 52.73 points to 11,538.87, and the FBM 70 Index trimmed 41.32 points to 15,623.32.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index edged up 0.87 of a point to 17,277.50, and the Energy Index gained 1.70 points to 917.70. The Plantation Index dropped 7.09 points to 7,285.26, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.37 of a point to 176.52.