At 9.03am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.71 points to 1,606.67.
"The recent resurgence of new Covid-19 daily cases has started to influence sentiment with selected economic recovery stocks losing grounds last week while glove shares gained on the other hand.
"Of renewed concern is the wider implications on the broad economy should the number of new cases continue to climb and trigger the onslaught of a new wave, which may then force the government to re-implement stricter movement restrictions as it will take time for the ongoing vaccination programme to
reach herd immunity," said Kenanga Research in its weekly outlook.
The research house expects the market to be facing a crossroads as investors await new developments.
"On the chart, the benchmark index – which is presently hovering around the short-term 25-day and 50-day SMA lines – will probably oscillate between our immediate support and resistance thresholds of 1,600 and 1,645," it said.
In early morning trade, glove counters were seen stepping back following last week's rally.
Top Glove dropped seven sen to RM5.50 and Hartalega
slid six sen to RM10.06. Supermax rose four sen to RM5.35.Press Metal
fell eight sen to RM5.32, and Petronas Chemicals shed six sne to RM7.87.Among actives, Fintec was flat at five sen, UCrest rose three sen to 38 sen and Bina Puri added one sen to 10 sen.