KUALA LUMPUR: Investors struck a cautious tone on Thursday after Wall Street retreated overnight amid fears inflation will derail the global economy.

       In the early minutes of trade, there was a decline in most Malaysian blue-chips on concerns the global economy could be impacted by rising inflation.

       On Wednesday, global investors were rattled when JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon warned attendees at a banking conference that the challenges facing the economy could be akin to a "hurricane".

       At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI was down 3.09 points to 1,550.32. The overall market was slightly negative with 166 gainers compared with 174 decliners.

       This comes on the back of a flurry of profit-taking in the previous session as investors cashed in on a rally sparked by the MSCI rebalancing.

       Moving forward, Malacca Securities Research anticipates continued investor caution due to the bearish tone set on Wall Street, although it maintains there are buying opportunities in selected sectors.

       "Traders are likely to lookout on selected technology stocks with solid balance sheet and growing quarterly results (at least positive QoQ growth)," it said.

       "We believe the energy sector may continue to shine amid firm crude

       oil price, driven by the Ukraine-Russia tension as well as the easing in China may boost demand.

       "Besides, traders could focus on consumer, property and transportation & logistics stocks as they are gaining momentum yesterday," it added.

       In financial services, Maybank rose four sen to RM8.93 while CIMB dropped one sen to RM5.19.

       Press Metal fell five sen to RM5.40, IHH slipped six sen to RM6.44 and IHH shed six sen to RM6.44.

       On the broader market, gains were seen in oil and gas-related counters including Petron Malaysia up eight sen to RM6.78, Hengyuan Refining gaining eight sen to RM6.58.

       Top actives were Sapura Energy down 0.5 sen to 6.5 sen, Fast Energy unchanged at 4.5 sen and G3 up 0.5 sen to five sen.