Genting Malaysia lost 17 sen to RM2.68, Petronas Chemicals slid 12 sen to RM6.88, Genting Bhd eased 19 sen to RM4.68, and Press Metal Aluminium was 8 sen lower at RM4.82.
These stocks pulled down the composite index by a combined 5.53 points.
Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said benign US inflation outcomes had indeed played a significant role in shaping global expectations for interest rate cuts.
“Ahead of the US CPI release, assets perceived as riskier, such as the local bourse, are taking a breather and leaning towards profit-taking.
“This cautious approach is in anticipation of the much-awaited US CPI report later today,” he told Bernama.
In addition, he said global investors will use the US CPI data to gauge the potential timing of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts.
“A softer print could be extremely favourable for Malaysian growth stocks, suggesting a possible US rate cut as soon as March,” he added.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices finished higher following a positive lead-in from Wall Street overnight with a focus mainly on the key US inflation data for more cues on interest rate cuts.
Thong said gains in Japanese stocks were driven by expectations that the Bank of Japan will maintain its dovish policy in the near-term, while Hong Kong was among the top performers due to the recovery in heavyweight tech stocks.
On the domestic front, he said today’s selling is a healthy correction as it enables the market to absorb the recent uptrend and will provide a good opportunity to accumulate stocks at lower levels.
“Hence, we anticipate the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to trend slightly higher within the 1,480-1,490 range towards the weekend.
“Technically, the benchmark index has formed a new support level at 1,470 while resistance remains at 1,500,” he said.
At 5pm, FBM KLCI edged down by 3.86 points to 1,483.00 from yesterday’s close of 1,486.86.
The benchmark index opened 0.29 of-a-point better at 1,487.15 and thereafter moved to its highest level of 1,492.44 in the early morning session.
On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 568 to 406, while 447 counters were unchanged, 797 untraded, and 29 others suspended.
Turnover declined to 4.64 billion units worth RM3 billion from 4.97 billion units worth RM2.84 billion yesterday.
Among the other heavyweights, Maxis shrank 3 sen to RM3.83 and Tenaga Nasional erased 4 sen to RM10.44, while Sime Darby Plantation was 7 sen higher at RM4.42 and Telekom Malaysia rose 5 sen to RM5.75.
Of the actives, Sarawak Consolidated put on 4 sen to RM1.12, TWL Holdings eased 1 sen to four sen, Minetech Resources inched down 0.5 sen to 22 sen, while both Hong Seng Consolidated and Widad were flat at 2 sen and 49 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM 70 Index perked 35.83 points to 15,114.47, the FBM Emas Index decreased 14.67 points to 11,083.16, the FBMT 100 Index was 14.23 points lower at 10,729.52, the FBM ACE Index narrowed 18.23 points to 5,414.62, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 2.39 points to 11,237.35.
Sector-wise, the energy index rose 12.44 points to 862.62, the plantation index surged 63.11 points to 7,130.62, the financial services index trimmed 11.14 points to 16,536.65, the industrial products and services index shed 1.43 points to 175.03, and the property index dipped 8.28 points to 888.14.
The Main Market volume dropped to 3.12 billion units valued at RM2.67 billion from 3.32 billion units valued at RM2.5 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 671.39 million units worth RM76.17 million from 711.64 million units worth RM86.69 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume declined to 834.69 million shares valued at RM252.36 million versus 923.63 million shares valued at RM257.19 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 459.93 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (786.66 million); construction (175.48 million); technology (533.23 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (82.43 million); property (536.23 million); plantation (30.14 million); REITs (13.32 million), closed/fund (25,500); energy (239.23 million); healthcare (74.67 million); telecommunications and media (29.44 million); transportation and logistics (70.91 million); and utilities (87.2 million).