Bursa Malaysia started early morning trading on a weak note, reflecting the performance of regional markets as well as Wall Street with market sentiment overshadowed by geopolitical crisis concerns and inflationary pressures.
At 9am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 3.72 points at 1,493.96 from Tuesday's close of 1,497.68.
The index opened up 1.96 points at 1,495.72.
In the broader market, losers at 191 outnumbered gainers at 90, while 207 counters were unchanged, 1,797 untraded and 8 suspended.
Total revenue at 130.47 million units worth RM53.29 million.
Rakuten Trade Vice President Thong Pak Leng commented, Wall Street closed weak with investors continuing to await the reading of US consumer price index (CPI) data to be published tonight.
It has indirectly spilled over to the local bourse with firms forecasting the KLCI to trade in the 1,490-1,500 range.
Additionally, there may be a sell-off in tech-themed stocks following the overnight performance of tech equities on Wall Street.
Heavyweight stocks saw Public Bank Bhd down 2 sen at RM4.64, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd down 1 sen at RM5.28 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) down 4 sen at RM8.40 while IHH Healthcare Bhd remained at RM6.40 and Hong Leong Bank Bhd was flat at RM20.88.
In addition, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) gained 2 sen at RM8.91 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd added 1 sen at RM8.80.
Active shares showed G3 Global down 0.5 sen at 3.5 sen, Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd remained at 9.5 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd shed 0.5 sen at 98 sen, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) weakened 1.5 sen at 87.5 sen and SFP Tech Holdings Bhd fell 1.5 sen at 92.5 sen while Cypark Resources Bhd reached 2.5 sen at 45 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index weakened by 31.61 points at 10,590.0, the FBMT 100 index shrank by 31.64 points at 10,339.51, the FBM Emas Shariah index lost 46.03 points at 10,707.05, the FBM 70 decreased by 62.25 points at 12,639.86 and the FBM ACE contracted by 15.66 points at 4,881.08.
In terms of sectors, the Financial Services index decreased by 1.66 points at 16,685.49, the Energy index declined by 1.28 points at 651.41, the Products and Services index decreased by 0.29 points at 181.58 and the Plantation index weakened by 20.4 points at 7,081.84.
