KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market continued to slip on Tuesday as investors counted down the days to Budget 2022 and opted to take profit on the side of caution.

       At 9.20am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.8 points to 1,586.14.

       A strong performance on Wall Street overnight failed to inspire Bursa Malaysia in the early minutes of trading although Malacca Securities Research said it expects investors to track US markets and bargain-hunting activities to surface.

       Overnight, optimism over corporate earnings spurred buying in US equities, especially in heavyweight tech counters. All three major indices rose, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P500 hitting new record highs.

       "Also, foreign investors continued to stay as net buyers over the past five trading days.

       "We expect trading focus on the potential beneficiaries in the the upcoming Budget 2022," said Malacca Securities.

       Among blue chips, Press Metal led declines with a nine sen fall to RM5.71.

       Most financial counters held steady although Hong Leong Bank shed 10 sen to RM18.74. CIMB ws up one sen to RM5.25 while Maybank and Public Bank remained unchanged from their previous day's closing price.

       Sime Darby Plantation rose six sen to RM4.34 after a flat performance yesterday as it attempted to climb out of sideways trading.

       Meanwhile, Petronas Chemicals dropped two sen to RM8.78 and Petronas Gas slid eight sen to RM16.82.

       On the broader market, top actives were VC up 0.5 sen to 10 sen, GUH gaining 4.5 sen to 68.5 sen and SC Builder rising 0.5 sen to eight sen.