Sentimental concerns abounded in the local market, Bursa Malaysia opened lower.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, predicted that there would be buying interest in financial stocks with banking customers falling victim to last-minute selling yesterday.
At the open, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 3.26 points at 1,485.01 from Tuesday's close of 1,488.27 with a weak opening of 2.35 points at 1,485.92.
In the broader market, losers at 235 outnumbered gainers at 102, while 202 counters were unchanged, 1,735 untraded and 8 suspended.
Total revenue at 206.53 million units worth RM83.36 million.
Heavyweight stocks saw Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and IHH Healthcare Bhd gain 2 sen at RM8.92 and RM6.17 respectively while Public Bank Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd fell 1 sen at RM4.65, RM8.73 and RM5.45.
Active stocks saw Metronic Global Bhd gain 1 sen at 8.5 sen and MQ Technology Bhd remain at 3.5 sen while Cypark Resources Bhd shed 2.5 sen at 33 sen, UMediC Group Bhd lost 0.5 sen at 71.5 sen, and Agmo Holdings Bhd closed 1 sen at 92 penny
On the index board, the FBM Emas index fell 26.37 points at 10,542.53, the FBMT 100 index fell 26.34 points at 10,291.20, the FBM 70 budded 47.11 points at 12,636.12, the FBM Emas Shariah index dropped 40.22 points at 10,593.83, and the FBM ACE plunged 24.615 points at 4,777.
In terms of sectors, the Plantation index rose 14.63 points at 7,014.68 while the Products and Services index fell 2.10 points at 181.53, the Financial Services index fell 4.81 points at 16,730.08 and the Energy index dropped 9.23 points at 712.21.
Meanwhile, the value of the ringgit (RM) fell to a 24-year low against the dollar during the opening session at 4.5010/5035 from 4.4970/4500 at the close.
