KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets opened to selling pressure on Monday with Japan's Nikkei sliding over 1% as the impact of the financial crisis in Turkey weighed on global equities.
Last Friday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones dropped nearly 200 points as the Lira dropped to a record low against the US dollar.
At 9.10am, the KLCI was down 10 points to 1,795.75. Trading volume was 137.5 million shares valued at RM72.18mil. There were 96 advancing counters versus 252 decliners and 212 unchanged.
Kenanga Research reiterated caution in its pre-market open technical report that the stochastic indicators have been in the overbought zone without any correction over the past two weeks.
"From here, we do not discount a possibility of seeing corrections towards 1,750 (S1) and 1,720 (S2).
"Should there be a positive turnaround, the index may head back upwards to 1,830 (R1) and even 1,870 (R2)," it said.
Some counters that weighed on the index included Petronas Gas, dropping 40 sen to RM26.40, Tenaga Nasional, falling 28 sen to RM15.50 and Maxis sliding 12 sen to RM5.67.
IHH declined 11 sent o RM5.64 while Sime Darby Plantation
trimmed seven sen to RM5.30
Some stocks that bucked the trend included Public Bank, rising four sen to RM24.44, MISC, gaining six sen to RM6.24, and Hartalega, adding five sen to RM6.65.
On the broader market, stocks taking a back step included Carlsberg, losing 12 sen to RM19.33k and Top Glove falling 12 sen to RM10.3
Among the actively traded stocks, Sapura Energy rose half a sen to 59 sen, Foundpac slid half a sen to 40.5 sen and Borneo Oil gained half a sen to 6.5 sen.
Oil prices inched up as US sanctions against Iran pointed towards a tighter market, although concerns over slowing economic growth amid global trade tensions kept a lid on gains.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures were up seven cents at US$72.88 a barrel and WTI crude futures were up 16 cents at US$67.79 per barrel.
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