KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 ― Bursa Malaysia remained lower as at mid-morning today, as profit-taking emerged in selected industrial products and services as well as finance counters amid cautious sentiment in the regional markets, dealers said.
At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 2.71 points to 1,490.85 from yesterday's close of 1,493.56.
The market bellwether opened 1.03 points weaker at 1,492.53.
Market breadth remained negative with losers leading gainers 377 to 295, while 346 counters were unchanged, 1,174 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.22 billion units worth RM680.61 million.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian shares were caught in sideways trade today with liquidity running thin as US markets were closed for a holiday.
“Traders are beginning to expect that inflation has peaked in the US, and that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) could achieve a soft landing to ease the tightening pressure over the coming months. This scenario could prompt global macro investors to take more risks in emerging markets.
“Chinese cyclical sectors are likely to gain as the focus shifts to expectations of better economic conditions in the coming quarters,” he said in a note to Bernama today.
In the session ahead, Alves said, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would meet with China Vice Premier Liu He -- the first face-to-face meeting between the pair where an exchange of views on macroeconomic developments and other economic issues were expected to take place.
“Japanese markets are also in focus as pressure on Japanese Government Bonds and Japanese yen builds on the back of growing expectations of a hawkish Bank of Japan (BoJ) meeting this week.
“China's macro releases will also be keenly watched as traders assess the impact of the country's recent move to rollback on its strict Covid rules,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.78, Public Bank and CIMB slipped 1.0 sen each to RM4.31 and RM5.75, respectively, and Petronas Chemicals and TNB declined 6.0 sen each to RM8.44 and RM9.39, respectively.
As for the actives, newly listed Kumpulan Kitacon improved 10.5 sen to 78.5 sen, NationGate added 9.0 sen to RM1.14, DNex gained 2.0 sen to 58 sen, and Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 16.49 points to 10,778.0, the FBMT 100 Index shaved 17.84 points to 10,471.51, the FBM ACE Index slid 45.49 points to 5,454.49, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 16.94 points to 10,995.41, and the FBM 70 Index shed 17.83 points to 13,445.26.
Sector-wise, the Transportation and Logistics Index reduced 3.25 points to 921.23, the Financial Services Index gave up 21.63 points to 16,537.69, and the Energy Index dumped 3.75 points to 817.14, while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.60 point to 186.99 and the Plantation Index gained 1.50 points to 6,900.83. ― Bernama
