KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher today, but retreated thereafter on profit-taking while tracking the overnight retracement of the Wall Street on concern that the blistering rally in risk assets overshot economic prospects, dealers said.
At 9.07 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.43 points to 1,572.73 from Tuesday's close of 1,575.16.
The index opened 1.10 points higher at 1,576.26.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 265 versus 141, while 334 counters were unchanged, 1,161 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 363.91 million units worth RM202.71 million.
In a note today, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said US stocks also took a breather yesterday on the pretext of growing political tension within the Korean Peninsular and the potential re-emergence of the US-China trade war.
"Therefore, we saw some correction in Asian markets today after a solid run-up. Locally, the FBM KLCI being one of the best performers in the region might succumb to some selling today," it said
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said despite marching higher yesterday, gains by the key index were trimmed to form a shooting star candle owing to quick profit-taking activities as investors were quick to lock in gains following recent strong recovery.
"Although upsides are still on the table, we reckoned that strong gains are now becoming increasingly difficult to come by and consolidation is imminent.
"For now, we see the 1,600 psychological level remain as the key resistance, while the support is located around the 1,530 level," it added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed five sen to RM8.15, Tenaga declined four sen to RM11.86, Public Bank eased two sen to RM17.36 and IHH Healthcare fell seven sen to RM5.56.
Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.89.
Of the most actives, Powerwell reduced 1.5 sen to 36.5 sen, AirAsia Group slid one sen toRM1.04, Lion Industries added six sen to 34 sen, Aco Group gained 1.5 sen to 69 sen and Vizione rose 3.5 sen to 50.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 5.74 points easier at 11,071.64 and the FBMT 100 Index slipped 9.65 points to 10,925.04.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 0.19 of a point to 12,448.87, the FBM 70 gained 17.57 points to 13,634.82 and the FBM ACE jumped 90.41 points to 5,953.32.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.29 of a point to 141.44, the Financial Services Index dropped 39.71 points to 13,833.54 while the Plantation Index increased 1.72 points to 6,830.31.-- BERNAMA