KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the negative territory as investors took profit ahead of Bank Negara’s overnight policy rate (OPR) meeting on Thursday.
The FBM KLCI closed down 11.06 points to 1,544.27 at 12.30 pm, with 22 out of the 30 constituent counters falling into the red.
The market sentiment was negative, with losers outpacing gainers by 499 to 271, while 392 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 1.36 billion shares worth RM941.98mil.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said there may be some bargain hunting activities but the market undertone is expected to remain cautious.
“Therefore, we believe the index to trend within the 1,550-1,560 range today,” it said.
TA Securities said the immediate index supports remained at 1,520 and 1,500. It said the key chart supports were at 1,470 and 1,452, the 50% Fibonacci Retracement (FR) of the 1,207 low of March 2020 to the December 2020 peak of 1,695, which matched the Nov 2020 low.
“Immediate resistance stays at 1,580, while 1,600, 1,620 and 1,640 will be subsequent tougher upside hurdles ahead,” it said.
Stocks-wise, TA Securities said core banking, healthcare and utility heavyweights like AmBank, Public Bank, Hartalega, Kossan Rubber, Tenaga and TM should attract buyers on any further corrections to key chart supports for rebound upside.
Construction-related counters such as Gamuda and Hiap Teck should also attract buyers to accumulate prior to medium-term recovery ahead, it added.
Top losers on Bursa Malaysia were led by Kuala Lumpur Kepong, which skid 66 sen to RM21.14, BAT fell 30 sen to RM13.66 and Petronas Gas lost 30 sen to RM16.60.
Among the banks, Maybank fell six sen to RM8.40, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.21, CIMB lost three sen to RM5.51, Hong Leong Bank gave up 14 sen to RM19.80 and RHB Bank declined eight sen to RM5.77.
MPI surged RM1.74 to RM42.70, F&N rose 72 sen to RM25.50, Panasonic added 38 sen to RM29.48 and Unisem gained 26 sen to RM3.30.