KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 ― Bursa Malaysia was marginally higher at mid-morning today amid cautious sentiment in regional markets, dealers said.

At 11.03am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.73 points to 1,498.23 from yesterday's closing of 1,495.50.

The market bellwether opened 0.70 points weaker at 1,494.80.

Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 470 to 396, while 899 counters were unchanged, 452 untraded, and 42 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.49 billion units worth RM596.94 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian shares were lower Thursday following a volatile session on the overnight Wall Street, wherein equities closed at intraday lows.

Price action is being driven by technical trades after an unwinding of cross-asset positioning following the Bank of Japan's decision, and ahead of month-end options expiries.

"On the macro front, lingering uncertainties remain over the outlook for the global economy. A slew of disappointing US data releases and hawkish US Federal Reserve rhetoric are also adding to the risk-off mood across markets,” he told Bernama.

Back home, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expected traders to take a cautious approach following the weaker trading tone on Wall Street overnight and ahead of the Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) overnight policy rate (OPR) decision today.

"The FBM KLCI slid (on Wednesday) as the cautious trading sentiment emerged ahead of the BNM monetary policy committee meeting, bucking the positive regional markets performances; the bullish sentiment on the regional markets was supported by the unchanged Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) monetary policy and optimism over China’s reopening,” it said In a note today.

Commodities wise, it said the Brent crude oil traded above US$84 per barrel, while the crude palm oil settling higher above RM3,850 per kg while gold price remained above US$1,900 per ounce.

"As Brent oil remains positive above the US$80 per barrel mark, we believe investors may position themselves into the energy sector ahead of the earnings season.

"Meanwhile, we like consumer, transportation and logistics stocks following the reopening of China’s borders. However, traders may take a step back from selected technology stocks as Nasdaq retreated below the key 11,000-level,” it added.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank added 4.0 sen to RM8.82, TNB improved 2.0 sen to RM9.44 while Public Bank slipped 3.0 sen to RM4.29, Petronas Chemicals dropped 12 sen to RM8.50, and CIMB fell 4.0 sen to RM5.73.

As for the actives, Dolphin International was flat at 1.5 sen, Velesto earned half-a-sen to 19 sen, Revenue Group added 8.5 sen to 70 sen, and Yew Lee rose half-a-sen to 46 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 6.35 points to 10,818.72, the FBMT 100 Index shaved off 8.30 points to 10,513.10, the FBM ACE Index slid 18.46 points to 5,464.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 2.41 points to 11,062.86, and the FBM 70 Index trimmed 11.64 points to 13,454.61.

Sector-wise, the Transportation and Logistics Index declined 3.11 points to 920.76, the Financial Services Index dipped 18.15 points to 16,528.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.15 points to 187.49, and the Plantation Index fell 39.92 points to 6,861.92.

The Energy Index rose 8.24 points to 828.81. ― Bernama