KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's profit-taking to open lower in most indices led by technology, tracking the lower close in Nasdaq Composite on Wall Street, analysts said.

At 9.12am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 9.89 points easier at 1,557.55 compared with 1,567.44 at Monday’s close.

The benchmark index opened 2.54 points weaker at 1,564.90.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 307 versus 92, while 221 counters were unchanged, 1,681 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 155.91 million units valued at RM103.60 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said the Nasdaq, which was down by 262 points, closed in a technical bear market for the first time since March 2020.

A decline in China's stocks following the latest uptick in COVID-19 cases and new lockdowns weigh on global risk appetite, he said in a note today.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said for the local equity market today, it is reckoned that the benchmark index would trend higher, attributed to continuous support from foreign funds.

"The FBM KLCI is expected to move within the 1,560-1,580 range,” he said.

On the commodities, profit-taking activities saw the crude palm oil price dipped below the RM7,000 per tonne level while the Brent crude price dropped to US$107 per barrel on the back of another lockdown in Shenzen, China.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were three sen firmer at RM8.95 and RM4.47, respectively, Petronas Chemicals shed 17 sen to RM9.42, IHH Healthcare and Tenaga were flat each at RM6.40 and RM8.96, respectively, while CIMB eased three sen to RM5.04. 

Of the actives, Hibiscus Petroleum slid four sen to RM1.07, Bumi Armada down one sen to 39 sen, and Dagang Nexchange fell 1.5 sen to 96.5 sen.

On the index board, FBM Emas Index was 70.29 points weaker at 11,010.04, FBM Emas Shariah Index narrowed 117.90 points to 11,592.61, FBM 70 slipped 76.97 points to 12,893.08, FBMT 100 Index declined 67.23 points to 10,727.56, and FBM ACE erased 41.16 points to 5,179.93.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 3.18 points to 198.74, the Financial Services Index rose 12.94 points to 16,270.15, and the Plantation Index gave up 136.03 points to 8,098.63. — Bernama