KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 ― Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday's gains to open lower today, dragged down by Wall Street's choppy overnight performance amid concerns over the Russia-Ukraine geopolitical conflict towards the pace of economic growth, a dealer said.

At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 6.10 points to 1,612.44 from 1,618.54 at yesterday's close.

The index opened 2.54 points lower at 1,616.00.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 279 to 129, while 215 counters were unchanged, 1,617 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover stood at 203.50 million units worth RM109.72 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI Average) lost 97 points while the Nasdaq saw an even steeper decline of 214 points.

“We believe that the concern is also escalating in addition to inflationary worries amid the high commodity prices,” he told Bernama.

Locally, he said said foreign funds would continue accumulating local stocks to take advantage of the low valuations, thus anticipate the index to trend between the 1,610-1,625 range today.

“Meanwhile, profit-taking could emerge on crude palm oil and crude oil as crude palm oil ended at RM7,450 per tonne, with the Brent crude settling at US$110 (RM460.72) per barrel,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank decreased four sen to RM9.08, Public Bank stood at RM4.43, Petronas Chemicals gained 26 sen to RM10.26, Press Metal eased two sen to RM7.20 and IHH Healthcare lost three sen to RM6.54.

Of the actives, China Automobile rose one sen to 20 sen, TDM inched up 1.5 sen to 32.5 sen and  DNex slid two sen to RM1.06.

On the index board, FBM Emas Index was 42.41 points weaker at 11,435.26, FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 53.93 points to 12,187.72, FBM 70 narrowed 39.56 points to 13,398.53, FBMT 100 Index dropped 40.09 points to 11,114.65, and FBM ACE dipped 61.88 points to 5,614.71.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index firmed 1.57 points to 215.89, the Financial Services Index shrank 29.04 points to 16,478.44 and the Plantation Index fell 30.89 points to 8,751.70. ― Bernama