At 12.30pm, the key index was down 6.3 points to 1,587.6.
Howevever, Malacca Securities Research views the recent positive earnings as supportive of a positive market trend going forward.
"Market sentiment may turn positive as the recovery theme is gaining traction following the release of growing earnings in selected corporates this reporting season.
"Moreover, the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination programme should support the economic recovery moving forward and investors should shift from pandemic beneficiaries to reopening of economic activities theme," it said in a note.
Maybank, whose dividend went ex today, saw strong buying interest following a positive earnings result yesterday. The bank share rose 26 sen to RM8.20.
However other financial heavyweights saw investors cashing out after yesterday's earnings-inspired rally.
Public Bank dropped three sen to RM4.24, Hong Leong Bank fell four sen to RM18.22 and CIMB gained eight sen to RM4.30. CIMB's first-quarter result is due out later today.
Other counters in the red were Press Metal
, sliding two sen to RM5.18, MISC falling 16 sen to RM6.86, Petronas Gas dropping 32 sen to RM16.10 and Petronas Chemicals losing five sen to RM8.12.On the broader market, top actives were Kanger down 0.5 sen to 9.5 sen, Jetson up 18 sen to 46.5 sen and Systech climbing 10.5 sen to 33.5 sen.
In Asia, markets were buoyed by US unemployment data, which fell to its lowest since mid-March 2020 as companies went on a hiring spree to cater for the reopening economy.
Japan' Nikkei jumped 2.2% and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9%.
In China, the main index was flat while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.6%.
In Australia, the ASX200 was up 1.2%.