KUALA LUMPUR: There was profit-taking on Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday on the heels of a price surge in the previous session as investors locked in profits amid the uncertain investment landscape.

       At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 11.01 points to 1,559.09 amid a negative market with 186 decliners compared with 138 gainers.

       According to Malacca Securities Research, the strong rally on the market in the previous session was mainly owing to the MSCI semi-annual review, which triggered a surge in trading value above RM6.12bil for the day.

       However, it expects global sentiment to remain tepid as Ukraine-Russia tension persists and elevated crude oil price may continue to put soaring inflation in focus; these factors may limit the upside potential on the recent relief rebound.

       "Technical indicators turned positive as the MACD Histogram has formed a positive bar, while the RSI breached above 50.

       "Should the key index hold above 1,570, next resistance is located around 1,580-1,600, while the support is pegged at 1,530," it said in a note.

       On the blue-chip index, financial services stocks were mostly down on profit-taking with Maybank sliding 10 sen to RM9, Public Bank falling 10 sen to RM4.63 and CIMB dropping three sen to RM5.12.

       Other lagging counters included Petronas Chemicals shedding 10 sen to RM10.16, IHH losing nine sen to RM6.61 and Press Metal dropping eight sen to RM5.46.

       Genting however was a top gainer as it jumped 27 sen to RM5.02 on the morning's third highest volume of 11.6 million shares traded.

       Other top actives were Sapura Energy falling one sen to 7.5 sen and Serba Dinamik gaining two sen to 12 sen.