KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed in negative territory at midday with selling pressure in heavyweights widening to the broader market.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 3.64 points to 1,550.0 from Monday's close of 1,553.64.
The benchmark index opened 2.05 points lower at 1,551.59, and fluctuated between 1,546.08 and 1,552.10 throughout the morning trading session. Market breadth remained negative with losers leading gainers 456 to 436, while 430 counters were unchanged, 972 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 2.32 billion units worth RM1.42 billion.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the Bank of Japan (BoJ) provided a potentially calming policy update despite increasing rates.
"They plan to sustain their asset purchasing programme, which could soften the negative impact of their policy shift."I believe this might prevent a significant local market decline today. However, given the anticipation surrounding tomorrow's Federal Reserve meeting, local risk sentiment could stay subdued," he told Business Times.
Meanwhile, the overall US stock markets headed higher as investors digested news from Nvidia's AI conference and traded more positively ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that will be concluding this week, said Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd.
"The market is positioning for a delayed rate cut, probably by the second half of this year. Given the more positive sentiment in the US, we believe buying support could spillover towards stocks on the local front," said the research house. On sectors, Malacca Securities believes that the commodities sector like the oil and gas sector as Brent oil is trading firmly above the US$85 per barrel level.
"Also, we noticed significant momentum building up within the construction sector, with the resurfacing of KL-SG HSR over the weekend," it added.
"We expect smaller contractors that have positive quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) growth in their recent earnings may be a more decent pick.
"Besides, we like selected Technology and Packaging stocks such as Formosa Prosonic Industries and Public Packages Holdings Bhd at least for the near term," said the research house.-ends-