KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — Bursa Malaysia kicked off the new year on a weak note, with the key index losing 0.73 per cent, due to lack of market catalysts and following mixed regional performances, dealers said.

At 9.13am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.81 points to 1,615.4 after opening 1.8 points higher at 1,629.01 compared to Thursday’s close of 1,627.21.

Market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers 427 to 222, while 328 counters were unchanged, 1,105 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Volume stood at 660.06 million units worth RM322.62 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee Shen Pin expects the local bourse to see a weaker opening due to lack of catalysts, with the US futures remaining flat.

News on the termination of the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project might prompt some selling on the construction and building material stocks today.

"Therefore, we see the FBM KLCI to possibly test the 1,620/25 range today,” he said in a note today.

The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project had been terminated after Malaysia and Singapore failed to reach an agreement on changes proposed by Malaysia before the project agreement lapsed on Dec 31, 2020.

A joint statement by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Jan 1 said the Malaysian government had proposed several changes to the HSR project due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Malaysian economy.

"Both governments had conducted several discussions with regard to these changes and had not been able to reach an agreement. Therefore, the HSR Agreement had lapsed on Dec 31, 2020,” it said.

On the bright side, Yee said the ringgit continued to strengthen against the US dollar and was now at RM4.02, which is positive to importers, particularly for auto stocks.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank slipped two sen to RM8.44, Public Bank lost 14 sen to RM20.46, Petronas Chemicals trimmed eight sen to RM7.35 and Top Glove fell 30 sen to RM5.82.

However, Tenaga rose 12 sen to RM10.54 while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.50.

Of the actives, Daya Material was flat at 1.5 sen, Ekovest eased 4.5 sen to 47.5 sen, Green Ocean inched down half-a-sen to 8.5 sen, and Iris was flat at 43.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 89.12 points lower at 11,672.81, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 87.53 points to 11,414.46, the FBM 70 gave up 131.05 points for 15,011.79, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 103.64 points to 13,055.51.

However, the FBM ACE bagged 18.52 points to 10,753.21.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.5 points to 176.61, the Financial Services Index contracted 73.66 points to 15,242.89 and the Plantation Index declined 11.1 points to 7,291.74. — Bernama