KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the uptrend among regional peers to open lower today amidst uncertainties surrounding the market, a dealer said.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 9.46 points to 1,503.47 from Thursday’s close of 1,512.93.

The index opened 0.95 of-a-point easier at 1,511.98.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 214 versus 112, while 237 counters were unchanged, 1,643 untraded and 64 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 200.26 million units worth RM108.97 million.

In a research note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI edged lower amidst uncertainties due to the recent domestic political developments, as well as the current Covid-19 pandemic situation.

"This would result in heightened volatility in the market, and traders should turn more cautious over the near term in selecting stocks to trade.

"On a sidenote, China’s move to raise export tariffs on some steel materials and remove rebates on cold-rolled products may exert pressure on the commodity’s prices as demand continues to rise,” it said.

It noted that some buying interest may emerge in the electric vehicle-related stocks following Genetec’s solid results, while gains in Nasdaq may spillover to the local technology sector.

Meanwhile, given the uptrend in crude oil and crude palm oil prices, trading interest may increase in plantation and oil and gas sectors.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased one sen to RM8.03, Petronas Chemicals fell nine sen to RM8.02 and TNB shed two sen to RM9.71.

 Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM3.99 and RM5.79, respectively.

 Among the actives, both Tanco and Ecofirst warrants rose 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen and 7.5 sen, respectively, and Scanwolf added 7.5 sen to 49.5 sen, while Serba Dinamik eased half-a-sen to 40.5 sen and Saudee was flat at 13.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 43.44 points to 11,028.33, the FBMT 100 Index went down 56.05 points to 10,726.82 and the FBM 70 shed 31.01 points to 14,511.24.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 56.06 points higher at 12,113.56 and the FBM ACE eased 6.43 points to 7,134.16.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 44.27 points to 14,736.02.65, the Plantation Index declined 31.44 points to 6,160.91, while the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 1.31 points to 186.68. — Bernama