KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 ― Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-morning, driven by continued selling in selected financial services counters, as well as in line with the downtrend in the regional markets, dealers said.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 9.16 points to 1,537.66 from yesterday’s close of 1,546.82.

It had opened 4.86 points lower at 1,541.96. 

Market breadth remained negative with losers surpassing gainers 566 versus 260, while 382 counters were unchanged, 1,096 untraded and 85 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.41 billion units worth RM927.23 million.

ActivTrades trades Anderson Alves said Asian equities had declined in the early trade on Wednesday, dragged down by the spillover effect from the overnight selling on the Wall Street.

The S&P 500 saw its worst performance since May, with the technology sector under pressure as the United States (US) Treasury yields climbed.

"The Fixed Income space is now highly sensitive and correlates with US Treasury yields as inflation worries are back on the radar.

"Quarter-end and month-end trading are likely to affect markets over the next few sessions as traders hunt for the best settlement prices,” he said in a research note today.

He noted that the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) policymakers will take part in a policy panel discussion during the European Central Bank (ECB) Forum on Central Banking later today.

"Traders will be looking for updates on the Monetary Policy narrative as inflation worries are once again gaining traction.

"US Fed policymakers have signalled that the central bank could start tapering its bond-buying programme this year, with US Fed chair Powell saying the programme could end by mid-2022,” he added.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank slipped 1.0 sen to RM8.09, Public Bank went down 3.0 sen to RM4.08, IHH Healthcare declined 2.0 sen to RM6.68, while Petronas Chemicals rose 1.0 sen to RM8.66 and TNB increased 9.0 sen to RM9.77.

Of the actives, CEKD added 8.0 sen to 56 sen, Encorp improved 4.5 sen to 64 sen, while DNex slipped 1.0 sen to 79.5 sen and Pegasus Heights was flat at 1.0 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 58.28 points to 11,273.55, the FBMT 100 Index was 58.68 points weaker at 10,970.31, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 78.52 points to 12,296.76.  

The FBM 70 shed 53.42 points to 14,838.76, while the FBM ACE declined 52.43 points to 7,133.65.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 18.04 points to 6,317.52, the Industrial Products and Services Index went up 0.43 of-a-point to 204.52, and the Financial Services Index slid 30.59 points to 15,200.44. ― Bernama