“The decline in the benchmark index was also in line with the weaker overnight performance on Wall Street, as investors turned more defensive ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) meeting later tonight,” said IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan.
Sedek said the current sentiment has added another layer of uncertainty to global energy markets, alongside renewed volatility in the artificial intelligence ecosystem, which continues to drive intermittent de-risking across technology and growth-linked segments.
“Selling pressure was broad-based, led by a pronounced correction in banking heavyweights, with all FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) financial constituents closing in negative territory, suggesting an ongoing recalibration in rate expectations, as markets increasingly price a more protracted higher-for-longer policy path.
“The banking sector, which has underpinned recent index resilience through earnings stability and margin expansion, is now encountering near-term headwinds from the repricing of rate cut expectations and a gradual normalisation in net interest margin dynamics,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said today’s selling offers an opportunity to pick up blue chips at more attractive levels, particularly in fundamentally strong and defensive sectors.
“While near-term sentiment may remain cautious due to external uncertainties, underlying support in the index suggests that the downside could be limited by selective accumulation.
“In the near-term, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade in a consolidation mode with a mild upward bias, supported by bargain hunting and resilient domestic liquidity.
“We anticipate the benchmark index to move within the 1,710-1,730 range for the rest of the week,” he added.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI fell 9.18 points, or 0.53%, to 1,720.42 from yesterday’s close of 1,729.60.
The benchmark index, which opened 2.05 points higher at 1,731.65, moved within a range of 1,718.45 to 1,733.84 throughout the session.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 617 to 485.
A total of 619 counters were unchanged, 970 were untraded and 112 were suspended.
Turnover declined to 3.63 billion units worth RM3.13 billion compared with 3.85 billion units worth RM3.38 billion yesterday.
Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped 18 sen to RM11.04, CIMB lost 9 sen to RM7.69, Public Bank gave up 3 sen to RM4.75, while Tenaga Nasional bagged 8 sen to RM14.60, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM8.81.
On the most active list, Borneo Oil was flat at 0.5 sen, while UEM Sunrise rose 3.5 sen to 68.5 sen, MRCB increased 3 sen to 36.5 sen, Velesto Energy was 2.5 sen higher at 34.5 sen and Zetrix AI shed 0.5 sen to 85.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Nestle put on 60 sen to RM102.90, Malaysian Pacific Industries garnered 50 sen to RM38, Bintulu Port jumped 30 sen to RM5.65, UMS Integration leapt 20 sen to RM6.90 and IOI Properties climbed 16 sen to RM4.15.
As for the top losers, Hong Leong Industries dropped 30 sen to RM17.50, Petronas Dagangan fell 26 sen to RM20.30, Sam Engineering tumbled 21 sen to RM3.97, Petronas Gas slid 14 sen to RM17.82, and UWC shed 11 sen to RM5.01.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index sank 55.54 points to 12,743.20, the FBM Top 100 Index decreased 62.71 points to 12,571.62, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 21.35 points to 12,707.84, the FBM Mid 70 Index declined 71.87 points to 18,198.10, but the FBM ACE Index gained 6.95 points to 4,663.49.
By sector, the energy index added 13.73 points to 845.06, while the financial services index slumped 176.82 points to 19,984.81, the industrial products and services index eased 0.68 of-a-point to 195.13, and the plantation index fell 12.67 points to 8,817.79.
The Main Market volume was marginally lower at 2.23 billion units valued at RM2.86 billion from 2.25 billion units valued at RM3.07 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover was slightly lower at 1.05 billion units worth RM134.02 million from 1.18 billion units worth RM161.79 million previously.
The ACE Market volume slipped to 342.76 million units valued at RM131.74 million from 415.85 million units valued at RM152.85 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 205.36 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (589.10 million), construction (243.98 million), technology (248.78 million), financial services (60.34 million), property (361.10 million), plantation (33.76 million), real estate investment trusts (14.35 million), closed-end fund (13,500), energy (257.77 million), healthcare (100.87 million), telecommunications and media (52.19 million), transportation and logistics (34.67 million), utilities (37.01 million), and business trusts (11,100).