KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 ― Bursa Malaysia opened on a low note today, tracking Wall Street’s weaker overnight performance which saw the Dow Jones falling by 0.3 per cent ahead of the holiday-shortened trading week, amidst a mixed bag of corporate earnings reports.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 1.20 points to 1,594.50, from yesterday’s close of 1,595.70.

The barometer index opened 0.88 of-a-point firmer at 1,596.58.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 169 versus 82, while 227 counters were unchanged, 1,774 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 137.26 million worth RM55.86 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said as foreign funds had offloaded some equities earlier this week, the local bourse is expected to trade in a negative bias today.

The negative performance on Wall Street overnight could also accelerate profit-taking activities on the local front, it said.

“However, crude oil is trading above US$110 per barrel and the crude palm oil future (FCPO) is higher than RM6,200, which will bring optimism to the plantation and energy stocks.

“Also, we believe the market could be pricing in earlier than expected 15th General Election (GE15), hence trading interest should continue to build up within the construction sector,” it said.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.83, RM4.67 and RM6.52, respectively, Petronas Chemicals lost four sen to RM10.22, while Press Metal added one sen to RM6.61.

Of the actives, both SMTrack and Pappajak were flat at eight sen and 52.5 sen, respectively, Datasonic rose two sen to 51.5 sen, while Pertama shed one sen to 88 sen and Tanco eased 3.5 sen to 40 sen.

On the index board, FBMT 100 Index declined 9.0 points to 11,092.57, FBM Emas Index was 8.58 points easier at 11,446.11, FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 1.59 points to 12,093.80, FBM 70 weakened 13.81 points to 13,791.86, and FBM ACE reduced 0.70 of-a-point to 5,845.62.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.03 of-a-point to 214.54, the Financial Services Index dipped 25.10 points to 16,654.48, while the Plantation Index bagged 9.46 points to 8,474.37. ― Bernama