KL shares open lower

Shares on Bursa Malaysia open lower in early trading today, amid weak sentiments on renewed worries over the euro zone
debt crisis, dealers said.

After 10 minutes of trading, the underlying FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,519.90, down 3.17 points or 0.21 per cent, against Friday's close at 1,523.07.

It opened 2.68 points lower at 1,520.39.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the euro zone effects are expected to spread across Asia today after Standard and Poor's downgraded the sovereign credit ratings for nine countries, including France, Italy and Spain.

"The negative vibes would likely be felt on our local bourse too," it said in a research note today.

The research house said the benchmark FBM KLCI could make its way to test the 1,515 immediate support line.

A dealer said investors turned wary against risks after the credit rating downgrade for nine euro zone economies.

"Furthermore, there are no strong leads for investors to take any position as the US market was close today for the Martin Luther King Jr Day holiday," the dealer said.

On Bursa Malaysia, the Finance Index slipped 24.02 points to 13,427.65 and the Industrial Index declined 4.59 points to 2,793.43. The Plantation Index gained 1.39 points to 8,507.34.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Emas Index dwindled 19.42 points to 10,492.98 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Mid 70 Index slid 23.25 points to 11,815.27. However, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Ace Index gained 19.17 points to 4,319.64.

Decliners led advancers 97 to 92 while 173 counters were unchanged, 1,131untraded and 47 were suspended. Turnover stood at 135.65 million shares worth RM36.68 million.

Volume leaders, Compugates and Redtone rose one sen each to eight sen and 35.5 sen, respectively, while Digistar added three sen to 49.5 sen.

Among heavyweights, Maybank lost three sen to RM8.23, Sime Darby fell five sen to RM9.10 and CIMB slipped two sen to RM7.25.-- BERNAMA