Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) extended its downtrend amid broad-based selling pressure.
He said the benchmark faced headwinds from losses in banking, construction and industrial stocks, but added that the broader trend suggested a healthy correction rather than a breakdown.
“This weakness appears to be a valuation reset after a strong rally that culminated in a seven-year high of 1,771 in late January,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan said the decline was driven largely by technical and positioning factors rather than any deterioration in fundamentals.
“Following a corporate earnings-heavy week, particularly among foreign and institutional investors, selling pressure has been dominated by portfolio rebalancing and valuation discipline rather than new macroeconomic shocks.
“Importantly, earnings outcomes have largely validated base-case assumptions, balance sheets remain resilient, and there is no evidence of a broad-based downgrade cycle,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI declined 24.33 points, or 1.39%, to 1,716.61 from yesterday’s close of 1,740.94.
The benchmark opened 3.88 points lower at 1,737.06 and traded between 1,714.09 and 1,737.06 during the session.
Market breadth was negative, with 842 decliners outpacing 376 gainers, while 491 counters were unchanged. A total of 981 counters were untraded and 76 suspended.
Turnover rose to 3.53 billion units valued at RM5.53 billion, compared with 2.98 billion units worth RM4.07 billion yesterday.
Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped 4 sen to RM11.96, Public Bank fell 7 sen to RM4.93 and CIMB Group slid 42 sen to RM8.04.
Tenaga Nasional gained 20 sen to RM14.38, while IHH Healthcare added 10 sen to RM9.12.
On the most active list, VS Industry eased 2 sen to 34.5 sen, Zetrix AI rose 2 sen to 82 sen and Tanco advanced 6 sen to RM1.59.
Malaysian Resources slipped 0.5 sen to 31 sen, while Press Metal tumbled 47 sen to RM7.13.
Top gainers included Fraser & Neave, up RM1.44 to RM34.94, UWC, which added 39 sen to RM4.50, Hume Cement, which rose 36 sen to RM3.88, Hong Leong Industries was up 34 sen to RM18.72, and Kelington, which gained 26 sen to RM5.47.
Top losers were Nestle, down 90 sen to RM109.90, Hong Leong Financial, which fell 60 sen to RM21.30, Hong Leong Bank, which lost 56 sen to RM23.28, Petronas Gas, down 48 sen to RM17.96, United Plantations, which shed 48 sen to RM29.52 and Press Metal, which declined 47 sen to RM7.13.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 157.17 points to 12,611.43, the FBMT 100 Index fell 160.48 points to 12,433.82, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 94.15 points to 12,217.56, the FBM 70 Index shed 155.77 points to 17,542.47 and the FBM ACE Index dropped 44.30 points to 4,720.25.
By sector, the financial services index slipped 384.53 points to 21,081.80, the industrial products and services index rose 4.51 points to 170.83, the energy index declined 5.72 points to 753.74 and the plantation index eased 81.97 points to 8,269.57.
Main Market volume rose to 2.43 billion units valued at RM5.31 billion from 1.82 billion units worth RM3.82 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover increased to 746.92 million units worth RM76.83 million from 707.30 million units worth RM87.39 million previously.
ACE Market volume fell to 354.36 million units, valued at RM143.11 million, from 459.82 million units, valued at RM163.60 million, yesterday.
On the Main Market, consumer products and services counters accounted for 358.77 million shares traded, industrial products and services (437.54 million), construction (185.73 million), technology (378.18 million), financial services (243.31 million), property (313.70 million), plantation (40.57 million), real estate investment trusts (50.07 million), closed-end funds (nil), energy (119.47 million), healthcare (93.03 million), telecommunications and media (88.84 million), transportation and logistics (29.88 million), utilities (91.33 million), and business trusts (598,000).