He noted that there was a rise in selling activities involving selected banking and plantation heavyweights late yesterday.
“We reckon bargain hunting activities would emerge if the index touches the 1,390-mark and would advise (for) an accumulation of banking stocks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that Wall Street ended mixed overnight with the Dow Jones easing 0.2% after the US consumer confidence data in May 2023 slipped to a six-month low, while the S&P 500 closed flat.
In a note today, it said investors may favour the technology sector, given that the Nasdaq rose above the 13,000 level, while the renewable energy counters may shine following the government’s move to roll out its energy transition roadmap.
At the same time, it believes that selling pressure may be seen in the energy sector after crude oil prices fell to US$73 (RM336.57) per barrel.
Trading on Bursa Malaysia was subdued in the early morning session today as investors continued to focus on the US debt ceiling vote, while Wall Street provided little leads following its mixed closing.
At 9.09am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell by 1.25 points to 1,395.66 from 1,396.91 at yesterday’s close.
The barometer index opened 1.79 points higher at 1,395.12.
The broader market was negative with decliners beating advancers 183 to 137, while 201 counters were unchanged, 1,727 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Turnover stood at RM292.03 million worth RM125.18 million.
In the meantime, heavyweights Maybank gained 4 sen to RM8.63, while Public Bank, CIMB and Maxis improved 2 sen to RM3.86, RM4.91 and RM4.29, respectively, and Petronas Chemicals was 1 sen higher at RM6.76.
Tenaga Nasional eased 10 sen to RM9.52, and CelcomDigi dropped 8 sen to RM4.49.
Among the actives, Main Market debutant, Radium Development slipped 11.5 sen to 38.5 sen and Aimflex erased 1.5 sen 15.5 sen, while Revenue Group inched up 0.5 sen to 27 sen and MyEG was 3 sen better at 82 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 5.42 points to 10,273.69, the FBMT 100 Index was 6.65 points weaker at 9,976.25, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 23.52 points to 10,630.89 and the FBM ACE Index was 42.40 points lower at 4,924.69, while FBM 70 Index recovered 0.50 points to 13,551.39.
Sector-wise, the financial services index grew 50.77 points to 15,320.07, while the industrial products and services index eased 0.33 of-a-point to 162.19, the plantation index slid 47.23 points to 6,700.27, and the energy index went down 9.29 points to 817.75.