“Hence, we expect the index to again trend within the 1,400-1,410 range. The latest spate of earnings from the banks was decent but is still largely being ignored by investors,” said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes investors may see further relief in the market with the US debt ceiling impasse looking to be resolved by this weekend.
The brokerage said higher-than-expected US consumer spending, indicating the American economy’s resilience, has kept the Brent crude oil price in a recovery mode – hovering above US$77 (RM354.35) per barrel – which is positive for energy-related counters.
Investors may also see follow-through buying interest in the technology sector following Nasdaq’s movement above the key 12,000 level.
Bursa Malaysia eased in early trade today as traders cautiously await soon-to-be-released manufacturing index prints globally.
Some investors also booked profit in heavyweight stocks after their gains yesterday.
Overnight, Wall Street closed for Memorial Day, while China’s markets were affected by the fall in domestic industrial profits.
At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI went down 5.47 points to 1,399.46 compared with 1,404.93 at Monday’s close.
The barometer index opened 1.11 points higher at 1,406.04 and retreated thereafter.
The broader market remained negative with decliners beating advancers 186 to 128, while 225 counters were unchanged, 1,725 untraded, and 60 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 167.56 million units worth RM91.54 million.
Back home, heavyweights Press Metal retreated 12 sen to RM4.78, CelcomDigi was six sen weaker at RM4.50 and Tenaga Nasional eased 11 sen to RM9.64. IOI dropped seven sen to RM3.88 and Public Bank fell two sen to RM3.87.
Among the actives, Dagang Nexchange, Cloudpoint, and Meta Bright were all flat at 39 sen, 51.5 sen, and 17.5 sen, respectively. YTL added 2.5 sen to 92.5 sen and Tanco was 0.5 sen higher at 50.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index narrowed 32.46 points to 10,292.59, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 33.71 points to 9,997.90 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrunk 47.94 points to 10,662.13.
The FBM 70 Index was 23.44 points lower at 13,558.18 while the FBM ACE Index was 5.77 points higher at 4,976.85.
Sector-wise, the financial services index lost 10.96 points to 15,286.32, the industrial products and services index gave up 0.83 of-a-point to 163.70 and the plantation index trimmed 35.70 points to 6,758.71.
The energy index dropped 2.25 points to 811.62.