KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, taking its cue from the Wall Street’s slide overnight on concerns of bigger rate hikes in the United States (US) and weakness in the regional markets.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 6.85 points to 1,442.68 from yesterday’s closing of 1,449.53.

The key index opened 3.73 points lower at 1,445.80.

The market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 256 to 83, while 202 counters were unchanged, 1,704 untraded and 33 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 253.85 million units worth RM205.02 million.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI slipped further into the negative territory as the Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate was within expectations.

The brokerage expects global sentiments to remain on the edge ahead of the United States (US) nonfarm payroll data to be released later today.

“Given the negative sentiments abroad, we believe the local stock market may trade cautiously amid intensifying global risk,” it said.

It added that Wall Street’s negative performance may lead to further selldown in the technology stocks on the local front.

“Meanwhile, banking stocks sentiments may be affected, given the weakness from the US.

“However, the tourism and aviation sectors may gain traction amid the reopening theme,” it said.

In the meantime, Bursa heavyweights Public Bank declined two sen to RM4.11, Petronas Chemical eased five sen to RM6.95, Tenaga gave up eight sen to RM9.37 and CIMB was flat at RM5.50, while Maybank inched up one sen to RM8.72.

Among the actives, Cape EMS rose 49 sen to RM1.39, Hong Seng Consolidated was one sen firmer at 15.5 sen, AwanBiru Technology rose by 1.5 sen to 46 sen and Eden Inc added half-a-sen to RM1.80, while Vinvest Capital remain unchanged at 22.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 42.02 points to 10,530.48, the FBM 70 Index fell 21.39 points to 13,432.28, the FBMT 100 Index dwindled by 40.88 points to 10,208.37, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 52.93 points to 10,757.24, and the FBM ACE Index was 17.90 points lower at 5,428.70.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 26.27 points to 16087.73, the Energy Index reduced 8.25 points to 874.84, the Plantation Index shrank 14.34 points to 6,815.59 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.98 points to 173.85. — Bernama