KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 ― Bursa Malaysia opened lower extending yesterday's selling activities in most indices amid mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, a dealer said.

At 9.13am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.90 points to 1,443.17 from yesterday’s close of 1,446.07.

The benchmark index opened 1.73 points weaker at 1,444.34.

Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers by 220 to 132, while 285 counters were unchanged, 1,731 untraded and 63 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 283.68 million units worth RM144.92 million.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although traders remained optimistic about US equities as the market approaches the final month of 2023, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13 points, and the Nasdaq dipped by 23 points as the US 10-year Treasury yield declined to 4.25 per cent.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slumped 361 points to below the 17,000 level as investors’ confidence was hammered by a sell-down of major technology companies.

Meituan, China’s top food delivery platform sank 12 per cent after it warned of shrinking demand for its services.

On the home front, the FBM KLCI closed over 2.0 points lower to just above the 1,445 mark as the market undertone remains cautious due to regional weaknesses and a lack of fresh catalysts.

"Nonetheless, we noticed foreign inflows are still positive, hence lending hopes that the local bourse may rebound anytime soon amid the easing US Treasury yields.

"For today, we expect the index to trend in the 1,445-1,455 range,” Thong told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased 1.0 sen to RM9.03, Public Bank was up by 1.0 sen to RM4.24, CIMB Group shed 2.0 sen to RM5.62, Tenaga Nasional eased 4.0 sen to RM9.84, Petronas Chemicals was 7.0 sen lower at RM7.01 and IHH Healthcare dipped 2.0 sen to RM5.81.

As for the most active counters, Top Glove eased half-a-sen to 85.5 sen, Velesto and Sarawak Consolidated Ind added 1.5 sen each to 23.5 sen and 75 sen, respectively, while Hong Seng and PDZ were both flat at 2.5 sen and 4.0 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 24.73 points lower at 10,674.72, the FBMT 100 Index lost 24.34 points to 10,341.54, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 28.63 points to 10,831.12.

The FBM 70 Index dipped 48.68 points to 14,155.84 and the FBM ACE Index shed 0.53 of-a-point to 5,043.09.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 24.47 points to 16,247.45, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.86 of-a-point to 170.86, but the Energy Index rose by 3.03 points to 824.88, while the Plantation Index was 37.14 points easier at 6,976.37. ― Bernama