KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s losses to open lower today despite the gains on Wall Street overnight, said a trader.

At 9.12am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.02 points to 1,443.04 from 1,444.06 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 0.59 of-a-point lower at 1,443.47.

The broader market was negative with decliners surpassing advancers 221 to 201, while 295 counters were unchanged, 1,662 untraded and 71 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 445.93 million units worth RM215.98 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI traded in a narrow range for the past two trading days with investors focusing on small-cap stocks.

It expects buying interest to spill over to the local stock market given the positive performance on Wall Street overnight, which spurred a positive showing in most regional bourses.

"Additionally, with the special financial hub news announced last week, we expect trading interest to stay vibrant at least for the near term,” the stock brokerage told Bernama.

The government will create a special financial zone in Johor in a bid to boost investment, growth and economic activities in the state.

Nonetheless, Malacca Securities cautioned that traders should take note of several upcoming key economic data this week that may shape the tone of the US Federal Reserve, going forward.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that he expected bargain hunting to emerge given the improving global market sentiment and projects the local benchmark index to trend within the 1,440-1,450 range today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added three sen to RM9.03, CIMB and Petronas Chemicals increased one sen each to RM5.61 and RM7.01 respectively, Tenaga Nasional slid 13 sen to RM9.77, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.08.

Of the actives, RGB International slid 2.5 sen to 28.5 sen, Capital A shed five sen to 98 sen, Pesona Metro Holdings rose one sen to 20 sen, while Ingenieur Gudang and Eastern & Oriental put on 1.5 sen each to 12.5 sen and 61 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 6.55 points to 10,674.97, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 6.53 points to 10,349.58, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 25.68 points to 10,892.36 and the FBM 70 Index was 5.76 points lower at 14,203.11, while the FBM ACE Index gave up 22.83 points to 5,215.64.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index eased 0.11 of-a-point to 836.66, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.11 of-a-point to 170.79, the Plantation Index dipped by 33.02 points to 6,916.06, and the Financial Services Index rose 19.24 points to 16,210.73. — Bernama