KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s downtrend to open lower this morning as investors remained cautious over the weak external development amid lack of domestic catalysts, dealers said.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 4.78 points to 1,517.69 from Monday’s close of 1,522.47.   

It opened 0.23 of-a-point lower at 1,522.24.  

RHB Bank led losses among the 30 index-linked counters, dropping 13 sen or 2.35 per cent to RM5.25 with 75,200 shares changing hands. The stock dragged the composite index down by a substantial 2.021 points.

A dealer said sentiment was clouded over the United States’ debt ceiling crisis as well as the debt woes of China’s Evergrande Group.

Nevertheless, the market would be supported by buying in the recovery-themed sector as recovery was in sight with the adult vaccination rate hitting 88.0 per cent and the number of daily confirmed Covid-19 cases trending lower, he said.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah yesterday announced that the number of Covid-19 new cases recorded in Malaysia continued to decline to 8,075 on Monday from 9,066 on Sunday. 

 In the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 293 to 133, while 240 counters were unchanged, 1,579 untraded and eight others suspended.

Turnover stood at 257.03 million units worth RM124.93 million.

 Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals eased two sen each to RM8.01, RM4.01 and RM8.63, respectively, Tenaga slipped one sen to RM9.62, and CIMB trimmed three sen to RM4.67, while IHH rose 10 sen to RM6.70.

Of the actives, KNM added one sen to 24.5 sen, Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and Dagang NeXchange shed one sen to 73 sen, while Tanco and Kanger were flat at 24 sen and five sen, respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 34.92 points to 11,202.51, the FBMT 100 Index fell 37.07 points to 10,877.92, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 31.39 points to 12,240.44, the FBM 70 went down 61.77 points to 14,909.71, and the FBM ACE contracted 28.2 points to 7,030.26.   

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.18 of-a-point to 203.26, the Plantation Index gave up 26.32 points for 6,298.17, and the Financial Services Index lost 92.39 points to 15,039.48. — Bernama