Wall Street had finished lower for the fourth consecutive day on renewed banking fears, according to Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, fell by 0.86% (286 points) while Nasdaq shed 0.49% (58.93 points).
Over in Hong Kong, stocks ended higher as investors cheered the prospect of an imminent pause in interest-rate hikes.
On the domestic front, Thong said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed in negative territory as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) unexpectedly raised the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points to 3%.
“We believe the local market will see some headwinds, particularly in banking and property stocks, following BNM’s monetary tightening measure although bargain-hunting activities may emerge as well.
“Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend sideways within the range of 1,420-1,430 points today,” Thong told Bernama.
Bursa Malaysia opened lower today, tracking the weaker Wall Street performance overnight amid fears over the ongoing banking crisis in the United States.
At 9.07am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.20 points to 1,422.79 from Wednesday’s close of 1,425.99.
The benchmark index opened 2.38 points lower at 1,423.61.
The market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering gainers 161 to 119, while 258 counters were unchanged, 1,695 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 190.56 million units worth RM64.17 million.
The market was closed yesterday in conjunction with Wesak Day.
Of the heavyweight counters, Maybank was down 2 sen to RM8.70, Public Bank and CIMB were flat at RM3.91 and RM5.07 respectively, Petronas Chemicals slid 6 sen to RM7.18, CelcomDigi eased 3 sen to RM4.41, and Tenaga rose 1 sen to RM8.99.
Among the actives, KNM and Bahvest added 1 sen each to 6 sen and 22.5 sen respectively, and Revenue Group ticked up 2 sen to RM3.70, while Jade Marvel and MYEG gained 0.5 sen to 28.5 sen and 82.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 22.44 points to 10,425.68 the FBMT 100 Index slipped 22.80 points to 10,117.32, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 27.53 points to 10,758.95.
The FBM ACE Index was 6.16 points lower at 5,207.14 and the FBM 70 index erased 30.90 points to 13,524.21.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index edged down 0.75 point to 170.70, the financial services index dropped 6.41 points to 15,582.38, the energy index eased 3.98 points to 829.50, and the plantation index fell 39.47 points to 6,787.14.