KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were lower in early trading today led by losses on index-linked counters as investors took the cue from the sharp declined on Wall Street overnight amid worries of the global economic downturn, dealers said.
At 9.30am, the market barometer Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) fell by 10.15 points to 867.50 after opening 9.80 points lower at 867.85 this morning.
The Industrial Index lost 17.15 points to 2,115.08, the Finance Index went down 89.67 points to 6,607.72 and the Plantation Index declined 59.13 points to 3,770.27.
The FBMEmas shed 67.15 points to 5,699.22, the FBM30 dropped 74.80 points to 5,624.00, the FBM2BRD was 11.37 points lower at 4,350.44 and the FBMMesdaq Index fell 22.52 points to 3,404.42.
Decliners outpaced advancers by 197 to 26 while 72 counters were unchanged, 1,030 still untraded and 38 others suspended.
Some 66.386 million shares worth RM71.084 million changed hands.
"Generally, the market relatively weak as investors remained cautious over the poorer global economic outlook," one dealer said.
He said investors will adopt a “sell on rallies” strategy as global markets are still not stable.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to its lowest level in 5½ years last night, closing down by 5.07 per cent or 427.47 points to 7,997.28.
For the KLCI, the dealer predicted that the key index is likely to hover around its support level of between 857 and 868 today.
"A potential sustained break below 868 would spell dire consequences for the KLCI towards the 801 recent low and support yet again," the dealer added.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional lost 10 sen each to RM5.00 and RM6.15 respectively while Telekom Malaysia edged down three sen to RM2.77. — Bernama
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