At 9.34am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI inched down 0.09 of-a-point to 1,747.45. The benchmark index had opened 3.69 points higher at 1,751.23, compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,747.54.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 254 to 227, while 360 counters were unchanged, 1,844 untraded, and 11 suspended.
Market turnover stood at 303.41 million shares valued at RM179.98 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street overnight closed on a mixed note as traders reacted negatively to weaker-than-expected retail sales data, amid concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) will pose threats to the financial sector after Altruist launched an AI-powered tax planning tool.
“Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield declined to 4.141%. As for Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index maintained its climb as sentiment returned to risk-on mode.
“Traders are betting that recent jitters on technology (tech) stocks may have run their course, hence interest in tech stocks is expected to persist, going forward,” he noted.
Back home, Thong said the FBM KLCI ended lower yesterday amid intermittent profit-taking following a solid performance, viewing the minor correction as healthy and expecting the index to stage a rebound anytime soon.
“As such, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,745-1,760 range today,” he added.
Among index heavyweights, Public Bank added 2.0 sen to RM5.13, IHH Healthcare rose 4.0 sen to RM8.81, Maybank eased 2.0 sen to RM11.98, Tenaga Nasional slid 4.0 sen to RM13.96, while CIMB was flat at RM8.55.
On the most active list, MMAG Holdings edged up half-a-sen to 5.0 sen, Velesto Energy shed half-a-sen to 30.5 sen, while Borneo Oil, Bintai Kinden and Pharmaniaga were flat at 1.0 sen, 10 sen and 30.5 sen, respectively.
Top gainers included Hong Leong Industries increased 82 sen to RM18.26, Boustead Heavy Industries put on 13 sen to 44.5 sen, Hume Cement Industries rose 12 sen to RM3.54, Tomei expanded 8.0 sen to RM2.02, and Greatech Technology was 7.0 sen higher at RM1.85.
Leading decliners were Nestle, down 60 sen to RM111.40, Fraser & Neave, which fell 26 sen to RM32.92, BLD Plantation and Hong Leong Bank, both down 24 sen to RM15.30 and RM24.74, respectively, and Malaysian Pacific Industries, which slipped 20 sen to RM32.00.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index rose 1.70 points to 12,600.39, the FBM Emas Index gained 1.21 points to 12,772.78, the FBM Mid 70 Index advanced 12.71 points to 17,522.12, the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 5.02 points to 12,235.29, and the FBM ACE Index inched up 0.26 of-a-point to 4,749.02.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened by 11.47 points to 21,700.62, the Plantation Index erased 9.12 points to 8,373.98, the Energy Index fell 1.20 points to 742.59, but the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.37 of-a-point to 175.68.