KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 21): After recording a 20-month high on Tuesday, stocks on Bursa Malaysia took a breather and the benchmark FBM KLCI ended Wednesday’s morning trading session slightly lower, with all sectors mostly in the red ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes for the first monetary policy meeting of 2024 later in the night.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 0.38% or 5.84 points to 1,549.75 points.

The healthcare sector was the biggest loser, down by 1.06%, followed by property (-0.87%), telecommunications and media (-0.81) and energy (-0.57).

Actively traded stocks included Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd, MMAG Holdings Bhd, Dialog Group Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), Ekovest Bhd, SC Estate Builder Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd, TWL Holdings Bhd, Leong Hup International Bhd and YTL Power International Bhd.

Among the gainers were Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Hong Leong Industries Bhd, Sam Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd, Greatech Technology Bhd, Hume Cement Industries Bhd, Country View Bhd, Ge-Shen Corp Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) and Kelington Group Bhd.

Meanwhile, the decliners were Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, CelcomDigi Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd and Teo Seng Capital Bhd.

In an earlier note on Wednesday, Apex Securities Bhd said the KLCI’s rally is likely to pause amid weakened sentiment in the global stock markets. 

“However, continuous inflows of foreign funds for the past 13 consecutive sessions are likely to provide support to the local stock market,” it said.

“We opine investors to look out for the energy sector closely, which recently reached a three-year high, supported by stellar financial results and strong capex [capital expenditure] and projects from upstream segment,” it added.

However, it warns that overnight fall in oil prices may dampen buying interest in the sector. 

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