KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its losses early Thursday in the absence of any strong fund buying as Telekom Malaysia, Tenaga, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank slipped.
At 9.19am, the FBM KLCI was down 0.48 of a point or 0.48% to 1,651.93. Turnover was 259.79 million shares valued at RM126.65mil. There were 144 gainers, 150 losers and 258 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported Asian shares were cautious, shrugging off a tech-fuelled rally on Wall Street while the euro hovered near two-month lows as soft economic data bolstered expectations of rate cuts in Europe.
Japan's Nikkei gained 0.5% to nearly three-month highs while Australia's benchmark index hit a new 12-year top on Wednesday.
South Korea's KOSPI was the only index in the red as leading chipmakers shed recent gains amid trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo. That left the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan broadly unchanged.
At Bursa, Telekom fell 21 sen to RM4.24 and Tenaga lost four sen to RM13.70.
Public Bank fell eight sen to RM22.62 and Hong Leong Bank eased six sen to RM18.14 but Maybank gained six sen to RM8.82.
Westports and Hartalega
shed six sen each to RM3.92 and RM5.16 while Gadang was down five sen to 86 sen.
KLCC was the top gainer, up nine sen to RM7.90, G3 eight sen to RM2.31 and GHL System seven sen to RM1.53.
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