Apex Securities Bhd head of research Kenneth Leong said the weakness was also due to concern over a higher interest rate environment that dominated sentiment.
“Going forward, we expect the downside to persist, owing to the volatility across global markets, un-easing geopolitical tensions, rising bond yields and the mixed bag of corporate earnings from Wall Street,” he told Bernama.
He noted that investors would be monitoring the US consumer sentiment data to provide further guidance towards the impact of higher interest rates on consumer spending power.
Nevertheless, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said he expects stock accumulation to persist during market dips, heavily influenced by external factors.
“Hence, we foresee that the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) will continue to trend within the 1,435-1,445 range towards the weekend, with support at 1,430 and resistance at 1,460,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI eased 1.91 points to 1,440.60 from yesterday’s closing of 1,442.51
The index, which opened 0.52 of-a-point higher at 1,443.03, moved between 1,438.80 and 1,445.14 throughout the day.
However, on the broader market, gainers beat decliners 436 to 402, while 448 counters were unchanged, 1,088 untraded and 17 suspended.
Turnover expanded to 3.23 billion units worth RM1.98 billion from 2.83 billion units worth RM1.78 billion yesterday.
Bursa heavyweights Maybank stood at RM9.00, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional rose one sen to RM4.17 and RM9.89 respectively, CIMB lost one sen to RM5.68 and Petronas Chemicals shed three sen to RM7.22.
Of the actives, CSH Alliance and Velesto were flat at six sen and 26 sen respectively, Widad lost two sen to 45.5 sen, while UEM Sunrise gained seven sen to 82 sen and Leform added 0.5 sen to 24.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 6.62 points lower at 10,631.7, the FBMT 100 Index was 9.66 points weaker to 10,304.3, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 20.05 points to 10,843.43 and the FBM ACE Index reduced 17.89 points to 5,049.59.
However, the FBM 70 Index gained 4.21 points to 14,022.67.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index was 0.52 of-a-point lower at 171.86, the plantation index narrowed 7.10 points to 6,875.48, the energy index shed 1.37 points to 870.66, while the financial services index went up 6.61 points to 16,242.79.
The Main Market volume was stronger at 2.15 billion units worth RM1.72 billion compared with 1.55 billion units worth RM1.46 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover shrank to 320.3 million units valued at RM41.67 million against 400.99 million units valued at RM52.67 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume slid to 742.41 million shares worth RM221.09 million from 867.82 million shares worth RM257.89 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 298.45 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (722.35 million); construction (167 million); technology (178.36 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (82.78 million); property (316.19 million); plantation (26.7 million); REITs (9.94 million), closed/fund (93,300); energy (142.27 million); healthcare (77.74 million); telecommunications and media (44.85 million); transportation and logistics (42.92 million); and utilities (47.29 million).