KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s downtrend this morning, tracking Wall Street’s decline after a choppy session amid growing concerns of a recession in the United States (US).

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.29 per cent, or 4.33 points, to 1,472.76 from Monday’s closing of 1,477.09.

The market bellwether opened 3.36 points easier at 1,473.73.

On the broader market, decliners led advancers 153 versus 122, while 210 counters were unchanged, 1,753 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 169.51 million units worth RM52.98 million.

However, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president (equity research) Thong Pak Leng said sentiment on the local bourse would improve following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s winning the vote of confidence yesterday.

"The win will clear the air of uncertainty within the political scene and strengthen the confidence of investors moving forward.

"As such, we expect the index to trend between 1,475 and 1,490 today with a focus on banks and plantation stocks,” he told Bernama.

Thong added that plantation stocks should see some buying today as crude palm oil price returned to around RM4,000 per tonne in view of the current bad weather which may impact supply.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank edged down two sen each to RM8.69 and RM4.38, respectively, Petronas Chemicals weakened three sen to RM8.48, CIMB eased one sen to RM5.77, and TNB gave up five sen to RM9.26.

Of the actives, Leform added two sen 23.5 sen, Cengild Medical gained 2.5 sen to 51 sen, Sunview advanced 1.5 sen to 63 sen, and Advance Synergy slipped one sen to 19.5 sen, while Serba Dinamik was flat at 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 23.94 points to 10,578.06, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 25.35 points to 10,283.19, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 25.75 points weaker at 10,718.48, the FBM 70 Index shaved off 10.60 points to 12,938.98, and the FBM ACE Index dipped 8.04 points to 5,469.76.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 8.05 points to 6,863.49, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.04 of-a-point to 181.18, and the Financial Services Index slid 35.76 points to 16,522.08.

However, the Energy Index inched up 0.86 of-a-point to 788.02. — Bernama