KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Bursa Malaysia slipped in early trade on Friday, taking cues from Wall Street as sentiments were spooked by the failed ceasefire talk between Russia and Ukraine, a dealer said. 

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 6.65 points to 1,573.88  compared with 1,580.53 at Thursday’s close.

The market bellwether opened 5.39 points weaker at 1,575.14.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 198 to 108, while 173 counters were unchanged, 1,823 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 89.42 million units valued at RM65.39 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI Average) lost 112 points while the Nasdaq declined by 125 points.

"With the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting looming next week, the United States 10-year yield inched higher to almost the 2.0 per cent-mark," he told Bernama. 

On the local front, he said investor sentiment is likely to remain cautious amid the heightened market volatility, thus anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,570-1,590 range today.

Meanwhile, he said the crude palm oil remains elevated at above the RM7,700 level with the Brent crude easing further to below the US$110 per barrel.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank lost three sen to RM4.41, Press Metal declined 13 sen to RM6.42, Hong Leong Bank slid 18 sen to RM19.98, and Dialog Group shed four sen to RM2.17.

However, Petronas Chemicals gained seven sen to RM9.69.

Of the actives, Hibiscus Petroleum fell four sen to RM1.16, Capital A decreased three sen to 63 sen, Dagang NeXchange contracted five sen to 99.5 sen, while SMTrack added half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and Pertama Digital stood at 82.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index reduced 39.49 points to 11,128.49, the FBMT 100 Index inched down 39.28 points to 10,836.20, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 30.48 points to 11,765.86.

The FBM 70 fell 18.45 points to 13,006.67 and the FBM ACE weakened by 6.50 points to 5,227.55.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.98 points to 203.61, the Financial Services Index dipped 69.81 points to 16,276.57, while the Plantation Index improved 8.01 points to 8,526.89. — Bernama