At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 8.27 points, or 0.49%, to 1,683.04, from last Friday’s close of 1,691.31.
The benchmark index opened 8.88 points lower at 1,682.43.
Market breadth was negative, with 360 decliners outpacing 143 gainers. A total of 306 counters were unchanged, 1,908 untraded, and 12 suspended.
Turnover stood at 322.82 million shares worth RM166.14 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended mixed as negotiations for a ceasefire in West Asia remain uncertain, with no immediate solutions in sight.
In addition, he said consumer confidence plunged to a record low in April amid fears of rising energy prices due to the ongoing conflict.
“Back home, overall trading is still muted since investors preferred to be sidelined for now. As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend between the 1,685-1,695 range today,” he noted.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank both slipped six sen to RM11.10 and RM4.59, respectively. CIMB lost four sen to RM7.48, IHH Healthcare dropped 11 sen to RM8.70, while Tenaga Nasional gained two sen to RM14.10.
On the most active list, MMAG, Top Glove and One Gasmaster all inched up half-a-sen to four sen, 81 sen and 14.5 sen, respectively. Sunway Healthcare dipped one sen to RM1.89 while Handal Energy remained unchanged at 3.5 sen.
Among top gainers, United Plantations strengthened 56 sen to RM33.56, Petronas Chemicals gained 24 sen to RM6.06, Petronas Dagangan 16 sen to RM20.96, SD Guthrie and Petronas Malaysia Refining & Marketing were 11 sen higher each at RM6.10 and RM4.28, respectively.
Top losers included Nestle, which fell 72 sen to RM97.38, Malaysian Pacific Industries trimmed 40 sen to RM29.40, Hong Leong Bank slid 24 sen to RM21.84, Sunway Construction slipped 21 sen to RM6.64, and PPB narrowed 18 sen to RM11.78.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index fell by 63.06 points to 12,196.60, the FBM Emas Index shed 64.41 points to 12,348.25, the FBM Mid 70 Index went down 102.47 points to 17,218.50, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 45.30 points to 12,244.03, and the FBM ACE Index was 33.76 points lower to 4,396.22.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined by 141.97 points to 19,642.69, while the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.35 of a point to 186.26, the Energy Index added 4.94 points to 818.19, and the Plantation Index increased 73.17 points to 9,040.42.