KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia retreated from yesterday's gains to open lower on Tuesday amid mixed sentiments on Wall Street overnight following the United States (US) Federal Reserve's projection that interest rates may exceed five per cent this year, a dealer said. 

At 9.06 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 3.77 points to 1,489.65 from yesterday's closing of 1,493.42.

The market bellwether opened 3.02 points weaker at 1,490.40.

There were 127 losers and 120 gainers in the broader market, while 247 counters were unchanged, 1,717 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 159.88 million units worth RM46.71 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said following the US central bank forecast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 113 points while the Nasdaq was up by 66 points as the US 10-year yield eased to below the 3.53 per cent threshold.

Back home, he said the FBM KLCI was likely to maintain its uptrend after a mild consolidation.

"Hence, expect it to trend in the 1,490-1,505 range today and expect buying interest to shift to telecommunication and banking stocks," he told Bernama. 

Among the heavyweights, both Maybank and CIMB were one sen lower at RM8.79 and RM5.70, respectively, Public Bank was unchanged at RM4.31, Petronas Chemicals eased three sen to RM8.32, and Tenaga Nasional lost four sen to RM9.49. 

Of the actives, Tanco Holdings, Hong Seng Consolidated and Citaglobal improved half-a-sen each to 35 sen, 17 sen and 34.5 sen, respectively, while GDB Holdings gained 1.5 sen to 28.5 sen and L&P Global rose two sen to 59 sen.  

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 23.21 points to 10,713.06, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 24.85 points to 10,418.20, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 34.10 points to 10,927.58.

Meanwhile, the FBM ACE shed 12.80 points to 5,425.37 and the FBM 70 trimmed 25.06 points to 13,183.11

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 5.82 points to 16,516.64, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.12 of-a-point to 182.39 and the Energy Index slipped 0.07 of-a-point  to 795.46, and the Plantation Index fell 11.63 points to 6,956.51.

 - BERNAMA