Bursa Malaysia was lower at the end of this morning's session reflecting weak regional market performance following continued cautious sentiment due to tensions in the Middle East.
At 3.15pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 12.15 points or 0.74% to 1,629.78 from 1,641.55 at Thursday's close.
The market indicator index opened lower by 3.06 points to 1,638.49 which is moving between 1,629.94 and 1,639.29 throughout the session.
Broad market sentiment was negative as losers outnumbered gainers 582 to 302 with 459 counters unchanged, 1,065 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Total trade of 1.82 billion units worth RM1.12 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed lower overnight due to concerns over rising tensions in the Middle East and the US NFP report for September tonight.
According to him, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 185 points while the Nasdaq dropped 7.0 points as the 10-year US Treasury yield rose to 3.84%.
The firm believes the index is still in a consolidation phase and expects it to be in the 1,640 to 1,650 range today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional declined 4.0 sen to RM10.50 and RM14.24 respectively, Public Bank dropped 2.0 sen to RM4.55, CIMB Group decreased 5.0 sen to RM7.94 and IHH Healthcare dropped 7.0 sen to RM7.17.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 52.61 points to 12,217.16, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 52.16 points to 11,911.13 and the FBM 70 Index decreased 19.14 points to 17,277.09.
The FBM ACE Index dropped 19.45 points to 5,106.30 while the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 67.43 points to 12,113.97
