At 9.11 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 2.78 points, or 0.16%, to 1,736.99 from Monday’s close of 1,739.77.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended lower as fresh tensions between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) illustrated the instability in the Middle East.
These developments sent crude oil prices higher, with the Brent crude hitting US$114 per barrel, while the US 10-year yield edged higher at 4.432%.
On the flipside, the property sector received a boost after Morgan Stanley raised its property prices outlook.
“Back home, the FBM KLCI maintained its solid performance as it closed near the 1,740 level yesterday.
“Buying was broad-based, indicating investors are sanguine about corporate Malaysia’s earnings report this month. Thus, for today, we expect the index to trend between the 1,730 and 1,750 range,” he told Bernama.
The benchmark index opened 1.97 points lower at 1,737.80.
Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers by 247 to 158 counters. A total of 313 counters were unchanged, 1,914 untraded and 11 suspended.
Turnover stood at 171.58 million shares worth RM107.04 million.
Among heavyweights, Maybank eased four sen to RM11.24, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional edged down two sen to RM4.73 and RM14.78, respectively, IHH Healthcare declined seven sen to RM8.80, while CIMB added one sen to RM7.70.
On the most active list, Capital A and Zetrix AI reduced one sen each to 42 sen and 85 sen, respectively, AirAsia X lost three sen to RM1.20, and Industronics slid half a sen to two sen.
Among the top gainers, Dutch Lady Milk Industries rose 48 sen to RM33.00, United Plantations advanced 32 sen to RM30.84, Fraser and Neave Holdings jumped 20 sen to RM30.22, and Petronas Dagangan climbed 12 sen to RM20.22.
Among the top losers, Nestle lost 70 sen to RM103.10, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell 20 sen to RM37.80, Petronas Gas declined 10 sen to RM17.90, and Apollo Food slipped nine sen to RM5.81.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index reduced 23.34 points to 12,824.43, the FBM Top 100 Index shed 22.77 points to 12,666.27, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 15.92 points to 12,808.53, the FBM Mid 70 Index gave up 43.61 points to 18,221.60, and the FBM ACE Index edged down 20.79 points to 4,615.27.
By sector, the Energy Index inched up 0.62 of a point to 838.33, the Industrial Products and Services Index went up 0.61 of a point to 196.83, and the Plantation Index climbed 5.45 points to 8,979.22.
However, the Financial Services Index trimmed 41.59 points to 20,048.73.