KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 ― Bursa Malaysia is taking another beating in the early trading session today, as selling pressure from last week's Friday the 13th persisted today, with the FBM KLCI was 3.34 per cent lower.

At 9.10am today, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 44.99 points to 1,299.76 compared with Friday's close of 1,344.75, after opening 25.38 points lower at 1,319.37 this morning.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 539 to 57, with 105 counters unchanged, 1,320 untraded and 31 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 310.65 million shares worth RM167.08 million.

Selling pressure intensified in the local market amid uncertainties due to Covid-19 that have triggered travel bans and a recession scare, coupled with lower oil prices.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Asian equities endured their worst sell down since the previous global financial crisis last Friday.

However, it said,  calm returned to Wall Street with the US Federal Reserve announcing moves to cut interest rates to near-zero and launching US$700 billion (RM3 trillion) worth of quantitative easing that may entice fresh bouts of bargain hunting again.

"Technical indicators are also suggesting that the oversold position may be due for a recovery, at least for the start of the week and this would also allow the key index to cast aside last Friday’s market weakness.

"Following the sharp downturn that saw the FBM KLCI erased close to 140 points over the week, we think that a rebound is due for investors to recoup some of their recent losses,” it said.

For now, it said, the 1,360-1,370 levels would serve as the immediate resistance for the FBM KLCI, while on the flip side, supports are located at the 1,320 and 1,300 levels.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank declined 22 sen to RM7.66, Tenaga erased 36 sen to RM11.46, Public Bank lost 44 sen to RM14.86 and IHH eased two sen to RM5.36.

Of the actives, Vortex was flat at three sen, Sapura Energy declined half-a-sen to 10 sen and JAKS Resources fell 5.5 sen to 77.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 332.74 points to 8,993.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 340.11 points to 9,644.88 and the FBM 70 gave up 463.93 points to 10,546.30.

The FBMT 100 Index contracted 326.16 points to 8,892.21 while the FBM Ace was 161.19 points weaker at 4,130.80.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 4.48 points to 106.19, the Plantation Index fell 170.28 points to 5,677.23 and the Financial Services Index reduced 431.33 points to 12,391.01. ― Bernama