KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Bursa Malaysia was lower in early trade today due to profit-taking activities amid the weaker regional market performance, an analyst said.

At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.87 of a point to 1,456.73 from yesterday’s close of 1,457.60. The index opened 0.76 of a point easier at 1,456.84.

The broader market was also negative with decliners leading gainers 188 to 144, while 290 counters were unchanged, 1,751 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 340.33 million units worth RM127.01 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the overnight Wall Street was mixed as investors were still pricing in the ‘higher for longer’ interest rate environment while turning cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on the US interest rate outlook on Wednesday.

The stock brokerage noted that trading interest on Wall Street had slowed down as well after the US stock markets rose for about eight to nine days straight.

The US 10-year Treasury yield continues to ease further, while investors will be watching closely on the Fed’s chair statement for more clues on the interest rate direction.

“Thus, with this slowdown in trading activities, further profit-taking activities may emerge in the local market. We expect traders to focus on the upcoming reporting season for trading opportunities,” it said in a note.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank, and CIMB were all flat at RM9.12, RM4.21 and RM5.77, respectively.

Tenaga Nasional slipped one sen to RM9.91 and IHH Healthcare was two sen weaker at RM5.98.

Of the actives, Swift Haulage added four sen to 59 sen, Puncak rose one sen to 43.5 sen, Classita and CSH Alliance were half-a-sen firmer at 6.5 sen and 5.0 sen, respectively, Velesto fell 1.5 sen to 24 sen, and Kinergy was flat at 33 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 11.26 points to 10,768.12, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 11.76 points to 10,431.30, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 12.43 points to 10,987.0.

The FBM 70 Index decreased 40.18 points to 14,246.43 while the FBM ACE Index went up 38.95 points to 5,169.05.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 0.06 of-a-point to 173.35, the Plantation Index lost 1.99 points to 6,954.37, the Energy Index shed 6.24 points to 858.71, and the Financial Services Index eased 6.55 points to 16,363.70. — Bernama