KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, extending yesterday’s losses as investors await the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision, an analyst said.

At 9.21 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.24 points to 1,603.61 from Monday’s close of 1,606.85.

The index opened 1.59 points lower at 1,605.26.

On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 251 to 172, while 358 counters remained unchanged, 1,690 were untraded, and 11 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 412.03 million units worth RM155.37 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended mixed again as sentiment remained cautious ahead of the FOMC’s two-day meeting starting today.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Index closed negatively, the Nasdaq added 247 points to another record high.

Meanwhile, the United States (US) 10-year yield stayed elevated at 4.403 per cent, illustrating that the market may have priced in the highly anticipated rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index (HSI) declined to almost a two-week low as investors remained wary of China’s patchy economic performance following the latest House Price index and retail sales data, which both fared poorly, thus highlighting deflationary pressures again.

Back home, the FBM KLCI dipped slightly amid a sea of red regionally as selling from foreign funds persisted.

"Nonetheless, we noticed some buying activities within the local bourse, indicating that 1,600 remains as the immediate support at the moment.

"Hence, we expect the index to trend between the 1,605-1,615 range today,” Thong told Bernama.

Among other heavyweights, Press Metal Aluminium was 7.0 sen lower at RM4.96, Sime Darby slid 6.0 sen to RM2.37, and Hong Leong Bank shed 18 sen to RM20.26, while CelcomDigi, YTL Power International and Petronas Chemicals eased 3.0 sen each to RM3.56, RM3.64 and RM4.95, respectively.

As for the most active stocks, Vanzo added 3.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Zen Tech was flat at 1.0 sen, MYEG rose half-a-sen to 96.5 sen, MNC Wireless increased 2.0 sen to 13 sen, and JCY grew 1.0 sen to 52.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 16.88 points to 12,311.30, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell by 11.00 points to 12,343.14, and the FBM ACE Index shed 1.80 points to 5,306.52.

The FBMT 100 Index shaved 17.30 points to 11,994.03, and the FBM 70 Index slid 1.35 points to 18,488.15.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shrank 46.53 points to 19,006.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.68 of-a-point to 174.42, and the Energy Index trimmed 2.21 points to 816.82, but the Plantation Index gained 11.25 points to 7,664.99. — Bernama