KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Tuesday morning as investors assess the announcements made following the Medium Term Review of Twelfth Malaysia Plan yesterday.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened lower by 0.75 points to 1,454.29 from 1,455.04 at Monday's close.
At 9.21am, the key benchmark continued to trend lower as it slipped 2.73 points to 1,452.31.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 177 versus 150, while 274 counters were unchanged.
Other indices are also in the red at 9.30am, except for FBMACE that went up 3.87 points to 5,164.94.FBM100 dropped 11.71 points to 10,390.93, FBMEMAS down by 11.91 points to 10,711.92 and FBMHIJRA slipped 14.99 points to 11,593.54.
Malacca Securities Research said the market is expected to perform on a positive note especially after Economic Minister, Rafizi Ramli's further elaboration on the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, which reiterated the government's focus on five high-growth high value sectors, as well as support from buying interests.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the trading on the local bourse is forecasted to stay muted. Rakuten Trade expected the index to hover between the 1,450-1,460 range.
Thong said on the global front, Wall Street closed higher as traders are anticipating a shift in policy and that the Federal Reserves (Feds) will be on pause with the rate hike next week as the CPI and PPI figures reveal tomorrow or Thursday.
"In Hong Kong, the HSI dipped to almost the 18,000 mark mainly attributed to the sharp decline in Alibaba following the resignation of its CEO Daniel Zhang from all positions in the e-commerce group," he said.