KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia starts the new year lower, retreating from 2017's upward momentum, dampened by profit-taking in bluechips and selected heavyweights, dealers said.

At 9.05 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,782.11, down 14.7 points, from Friday's close of 1,796.81.

The key index opened 13.71 points weaker at 1,783.1.

Losses in Sime Darby dragged the composite index down by 5.828 points, followed by Digi (2.776 points), Maybank (2.503 points), and KLCC Property & REITs (2.192 points).

Sime Darby contracted 48 sen to RM5.52, Digi lost 20 sen to RM4.90, Maybank down 13 sen to RM9.67 while KLCC Property & REITs fell 68 sen to RM7.96.

Maybank IB Research expects the FBM KLCI to trade between 1,780 and 1,800-level today with the downside supports at 1,770 and 1,752.

The research house said there is a high possibility that the benchmark may stage a pullback in the early part of 2018 as profit-taking surfaces.

"Notwithstanding, with the ringgit and oil price continue to stay strong, the local stock market should be able to absorb the selling pressure," it said in a note today.

The FBM KLCI finished 2017 at a year high of 1,796.81 on Dec 29, up 155.08 points, or 9.45 per cent, from 1,641.73 at end-2016.

The opening session today saw gainers slightly outnumbered losers by 134 to 126, while 182 counters were unchanged, 1,368 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 116.76 million shares worth RM61.04 million.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga trimmed four sen to RM15.22 and Public Bank eased two sen to RM20.76.

CIMB, however, rose one sen to RM6.55, while Petronas Chemicals was unchanged at RM7.70.

Of the actives, Sino Hua-An gained four sen to 43 sen, Diversified Gateway added one sen to 14 sen but Sapura slipped one sen to 70 sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index gave up 119.25 points for 12,823.32, the FBMT 100 Index fell 122.43 points to 12,491.77, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 134.02 points to 13,168.9 and the FBM 70 dropped 220.81 points to 15,864.73.

However, the FBM Ace perked 41.53 points to 6,645.08.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 51.74 points to 16,809.64, the Industrial Index eased 8.14 points to 3,272.56, while the Plantation Index was unchanged at 7,903.37. - Bernama