KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower in early trade on Monday on continued profit-taking in heavyweights as sentiments remained weak.

       At 9.13am, the FBM KLCI lost 4.33 points to 1,551.0. The index opened 1.53 points lower at 1,553.8 this morning.

       Sellers led buyers 282 to 154, while 296 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 376.71 million units valued at RM178.12mil.

       Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said following last Friday’s selldown, KLCI is expected to waver near the critical 200DMA of 1,551 and uptrend line support near 1,545.

       “A decisive breakout above Jan 13 high at 1,570 may spur its upward momentum towards 1,580-1,600 levels.

       “On the flipside, a decisive fall below 1,545 may trigger renewed selling spree towards 1,500-1,520 levels,” it added.

       Kenanga Research said the FBM KLCI soared as high as 1,570 last Thursday only to surrender parts of the earlier gains to end at 1,555 last Friday.

       “This translates to a weekly rise of 12.2 points or 0.8%. Technically speaking, the benchmark index may still be vulnerable to pullbacks ahead following last week’s climb.

       “In the wake of the bearish signals triggered by the Bollinger Band, the RSI indicator and the stochastic indicator, the FBM KLCI could face a downward bias going forward,” it said.

       Among the KLCI component stocks, Inari added three sen to RM3.41, Tenaga rose two sen to RM9.06, Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.21 and Hartalega rose three sen to RM5.71.

       Hong Leong Bank fell 10 sen to RM19.84, Dialog declined eight sen to RM2.81, Sime Darby Plantation lost six sen to RM4.01 and Telekom Malaysia fell five sen to RM5.30.

       On the broader market, KESM fell 60 sen to RM11.28, MPI lost 20 sen to RM40.76 and Sam Engineering shed 28 sen to RM20.50.

       Aeon Credit rose 30 sen to RM15.40, Panasonic Manufacturing rose 20 sen to RM29.30 and F&N gave up 18 sen to RM24.96.