KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): Bursa Malaysia retreated from a four-day winning streak to open lower on Wednesday as profit-taking in selected heavyweights kicked in, amidst mixed sentiment in regional markets, a dealer said.

At 9.44am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 11.51 points to 1,543.05 from Tuesday’s close of 1,554.56.

The benchmark index opened 11.05 points weaker at 1,543.51.

On the broader market, decliners and gainers were neck and neck at 293 to 292, while 395 counters were unchanged, 1,334 untraded and 12 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 986.11 million units worth RM341.46 million.

Malacca Securities said with the positive rebound on the overnight Wall Street, buying interest may spill over into the local market on Wednesday.

“The FBM KLCI ended more positively above the 1,550 level (on Tuesday) after a four-day winning streak with the help of utilities heavyweight such as Tenaga Nasional.

“Meanwhile, the US stock markets ended more positively with S&P 500 hitting a record high despite the core consumer price index (CPI) data coming in slightly above expectations. Still, the market could be looking at June for the Federal Reserve to reduce the interest rates,” it said in a note.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose two sen to RM9.54 while Public Bank also rose two sen to RM4.23. CIMB advanced four sen to RM6.76 while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM11.48 and Petronas Chemicals slipped four sen to RM6.88.

As for the actives, Hong Seng earned half-a-sen to two sen while and Classita rose half-a-sen to five sen. Pan Malaysia added 4.5 sen to 27 sen and Microlink went up four sen to 41 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index tumbled 57.36 points to 11,454.08, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 60.95 points to 11,120.74, the FBM ACE Index notched up 3.68 points to 4,725.69, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 21.56 points to 11,509.83, and the FBM 70 Index climbed 5.78 points to 15,488.67.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 193.22 points to 17,249.80, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.28 of-a-point to 175.71, the Energy Index improved 2.74 points to 899.78, and the Plantation Index shed 31.09 points to 7,325.51.