KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 17): The main index of Bursa Malaysia pared some of its loss before the midday break today, but remained below the 1,600-point level in line with cautious regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 8.10 points at 1,598.04. The index earlier dropped to a low of 1,596.45.

Broader market sentiment remained cautious with 416 losers and 367 gainers, while 712 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 5.99 billion shares valued at RM2.79 billion.

The top losers included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd, AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK), Mega First Corp Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), Inari Amertron Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd.

Actively traded stocks included DGB Asia Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX), Dataprep Holdings Bhd, Lambo Group Bhd, ARB Bhd and Hiap Teck Venture Bhd.

Gainers included Supermax Corp Bhd, Ralco Corp Bhd, Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Dataprep, VSTECS Bhd, Ann Joo Resources Bhd, UPA Corp Bhd, TIME dotCom Bhd and CI Holdings Bhd.

Reuters said US Treasury yields hit one-year highs today, lending support to the US dollar but pressuring lofty valuations of stocks as investors reckoned that a stimulus-fuelled global recovery will eventually bring rising inflation.

Benchmark 10-year US Treasury yields rose as far as 1.3330% in Asia, the highest since February 2020, although they later eased back to 1.2989%, it said.

Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research said despite optimism over the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) dovish outlook, huge US stimulus package, falling Covid-19 infections and the imminent launch of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, the KLCI was still unable to cross above the key 1,618 hurdle yesterday, indicating the tug of war between the bulls and bears would remain in the near term as the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20) earnings reporting season begins.

“For stock selection, ahead of Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out soon, we believe total logistics solution providers companies like Tasco Bhd, Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd and DKSH Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd will attract trading interest as they are perceived as beneficiaries of the handling, storage and distribution of the vaccines,” it said.