KL shares open slightly lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower and the lackluster performance this morning was influenced by the overnight losses on Wall Street, dealers said.

After 20 minutes of trading, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 0.34 of a point lower at 1,584.56 after opening 0.93 of a point weaker at 1,583.97.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said Wall Street lost further ground last night with its key stock indices slipping between 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent at the closing bell.

"The Dow Jones Industrial Average Jun futures contract was treading at a 66-point discount to the spot rate early this morning as concerns grew on the Eurozone's sovereign debt contagion," it said in a note.

HwangDBS also said these factors were expected to put pressure on the local bourse ahead.

On the chart, the benchmark FBM KLCI was likely to test and may break below the immediate support level of 1,580.

The Finance Index shed 25.27 points to 14,161.90, the Plantation
Index declined 11.55 points to 8,664.43 and the Industrial Index lost 0.98 of a point to 2,803.14.

The FBM Emas Index shed 1.86 points to 10,861.46, the FBM Mid 70 Index lost 1.97 points to 11,908.70 but the FBM Ace Index perked 20.79 points to 4,558.93.

Losers led gainers 115 to 108 while 150 counters were unchanged with 97.02 million shares, worth RM48.814 million, exchanging hands.

Among active counters, Managepay Systems added 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, Jaks Resources added one sen to 58 sen and Naim Indah flat at 49 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank shed one sen to RM8.69, Sime Darby rose three sen to RM9.80 and CIMB earned one sen to RM7.65. Bernama