At 10.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 4.13 points to 1,406.74 from yesterday’s close of 1,410.87.

It began the day at 3.55 points easier at 1,407.32.

The market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 368 to 169, while 270 counters were unchanged, 1,591 were not traded and 38 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 498.83 million units worth RM317.57 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said he expected trading on the local bourse to remain subdued on heightened volatility regionally.

“Nonetheless, we reckon some bargain hunting would emerge in financial stocks after a week of consecutive decline and anticipate the key index to trend within the 1,405 to 1,420 range today,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.23 and Petronas Chemicals gained a sen to RM8.36, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.91, Maybank and CIMB slid a sen each to RM8.56 and RM5.11, respectively, and TNB declined three sen to RM8.69.

Of the actives, PT Resources rose 3.5 sen to 40.5 sen, Velesto was flat at 11.5 sen, Cnergenz fell four sen to RM1.08, and LGMS went down a sen RM1.23.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index narrowed 30.30 points to 10,049.64, the FBM 70 dwindled 34.83 points to 12,212.48, and the FBMT 100 Index contracted 28.51 points to 9,795.0.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank by 25.24 points to 10,151.32, while the FBM ACE reduced by 33.06 points to 4,675.32.

Sector-wise, the energy index was 7.02 points easier at 680.13, the plantation index went down 36.55 points to 6,543.53, the financial services index lost 53.24 points to 15,901.32, and the industrial products and services index edged down 0.5 of-a-point to 171,19.