KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened below the 1,600 mark due to broad-based selling, taking cue from Wall Street's continued selldown amid recessionary fears.
At 9.10am, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 1.98 per cent or 31.83 points, to 1,579.22 versus Friday's close of 1,611.05.
The key index opened 17.69 points lower at 1,593.36.
The broader market was negative, with decliners leading gainers 1,316 to 155, while 267 counters were unchanged.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the selling was just a knee-jerk reaction, as traders may treat this as an excuse to lock in profits.
"Nonetheless, we reckon overall sentiment may have turned cautious, though we anticipate some bargain hunting to resurface, albeit tentatively.
"As such, we see the index to possibly hover within the 1,605-1615 range today," he said in a note.
He added the Wall Street sell-down continues as sentiment was further eroded amid recessionary fears and the weaker than expected job data for July, pushing the unemployment rate higher to 4.3 per cent.
As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 611 points while the Nasdaq lost 418 points as funds maintained the transition to bonds, thus pushing the US 10-year yield to a year-to-date low of 3.799 per cent.