KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, tracking Wall Street’s weaker performance as concerns over higher interest rate hikes by the United States Federal Reserves continue to weigh on sentiments, a dealer said.

At 9.12 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 3.26 points to 1,485.01 from Tuesday’s close of 1,488.27.

The benchmark index opened 2.25 points weaker at 1,485.92.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 235 to 102, while 202 counters were unchanged, 1,735 untraded, and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 206.53 million units worth RM83.36 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said he expects to see some buying interest in financial stocks today, especially banking counters that were the victims of the last-minute selling spree yesterday.

“Meanwhile, crude palm oil price skidded to below RM3,800 per tonne due to aggressive exports from Indonesia to reduce their own stockpile,” he told Bernama.

He said the DJI Average lost 173 points and the Nasdaq declined by 86 points, while the US 10-year yield surged to 3.35 per cent.

On the local front, he reckoned that the index would be stuck within a tight range of between 1,485 and 1,500 today as trading is expected to remain lacklustre.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and IHH Healthcare added two sen to RM8.92 and RM6.17, respectively, while Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals and CIMB shed one sen to RM4.65, RM8.73 and RM5.45, respectively.

Of the actives, Metronic Global gained one sen to 8.5 sen and MQ Technology was flat at 3.5 sen, while Cypark Resources slid 2.5 sen to 33 sen, Umedic Group reduced half-a-sen to 71.5 sen and Agmo Holdings shrank one sen to 92 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lessened 26.37 points to 10,542.53, the FBMT 100 Index inched down 26.34 points to 10,291.20, the FBM 70 gave up 47.11 points to 12,636.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 40.22 points to 10,593.83 and the FBM ACE shed 24.61 points to 4,775.78.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 14.63 points better at 7,014.68, while the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 2.10 points to 181.53, the Financial Services Index fell 4.81 points to 16,730.08 and the Energy Index edged down 9.23 points to 712.21.

— BERNAMA