Apex Securities Bhd head of research Kenneth Leong said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) had taken another step backward to mark its fourth straight losing streak.
“The extended pullback was in tandem with the weakness across regional markets that were impacted by the hawkish remarks from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials that signalled a potential higher-for-longer interest rate environment,” he said.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.77% to 38,556.87, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.83% to 18,477.01, South Korea’s Kospi shed 1.67% to 2,677.30, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index gained 0.05% to 3,111.02.
“Technically, the FBM KLCI has formed another bearish candle as the key index staged an extended pullback pattern.
“For now, we expect the downward bias consolidation to take shape with the key index looking to re-test the 1,600 level,” he told Bernama.
Moving forward, he said further weakness may take place amid the absence of fresh catalysts.
“Sentiment remains tepid ahead of the US Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data which is the Fed’s preferred gauge to measure inflation, scheduled to be released later this week,” he added.
Back home, he said investors will closely monitor the flurry of corporate earnings releases until the end of the week.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI slid 10.47 points, or 0.64%, to 1,605.35 from yesterday’s close of 1,615.82.
The benchmark index, which opened 1.11 points lower at 1,614.71 to mark its day’s high, was on a downward trajectory for the rest of the session.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers 834 to 400, with 424 counters unchanged, 763 untraded, and 50 others suspended.
Turnover declined to 4.73 billion units worth RM3.68 billion from yesterday’s 4.86 billion units worth RM3.79 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank and CIMB shed 4 sen each to RM4.08 and RM6.87 respectively, IHH Healthcare slipped 1 sen to RM6.19, Maybank was down 9 sen to RM9.90, and Tenaga Nasional inched down 6 sen to RM13.20.
Among the actives, ACE Market debutant Kawan Renergy climbed 16.5 sen to 46.5 sen, Alpha IVF Group improved 0.5 sen to 32 sen, while Epicon was 8.5 sen lower at 31.5 sen, AHB Holdings slid 2.5 sen to 12.5 sen, and Revenue Group eased 1.5 sen to 22 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 66.47 points to 12,244.54, the FBMT 100 Index decreased by 65.32 points to 11,845.38, the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 91.00 points to 12,478.57, the FBM ACE Index fell 49.66 points to 5,439.9, and the FBM 70 Index slipped 48.56 points to 17,642.16.
Sector-wise, the financial services index shaved off 132.91 points to 17,499.03, the industrial products and services index inched down 1.38 points to 194.34, the plantation index dropped 101.44 points to 7,144.22, while the energy index added 1.44 points to 993.89.
The Main Market volume shrank to 2.73 billion units worth RM3.2 billion from 2.83 billion units worth RM3.32 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover dipped to 1.01 billion units valued at RM142.96 million from 1.03 billion units valued at RM151.06 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 990.48 million shares worth RM344.36 million from 997.14 million shares worth RM320.67 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 588.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (418.69 million), construction (202.46 million), technology (428.27 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (156.88 million), property (361.57 million), plantation (30.18 million), REITs (20.55 million), closed/fund (15,300), energy (135.1 million), healthcare (125.55 million), telecommunications and media (51.75 million), transportation and logistics (104.8 million), utilities (112.42 million), and business trusts (288,200).