KUALA LUMPUR (March 27): The FBM KLCI fell 0.37% at mid-morning today ahead of the release of the 2018 Bank Negara Malaysia Annual and Financial Stability and Payment Systems Reports, and in line with the slip at regional markets.
At 10am, the FBM KLCI lost 6.03 points to 1,643.91.
Gainers led losers by 229 to 213, while 267 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 590.92 million shares valued at RM350.29 million.
The top losers included Public Bank Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, SCGM Bhd, Eng Kah Corp Bhd and Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd.
The actives included Bumi Armada Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, Berjaya Corp Bhd, My EG Services Bhd and Sapura Energy Bhd.
The gainers included Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Panasonic Malaysia Manufacturing Bhd, Teck Guan Perdana Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd and Bursa Malaysia Bhd.
Asian shares slipped on Wednesday, giving up their small gains made the previous day, as investors tried to come to terms with a sharp shift in US bond markets and the implications for the world's top economy, according to Reuters.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2% while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.6%, it said.
Hong Leong IB Research said although market sentiment has turned slightly positive over the previous session driven by energy stocks, it may be short lived as investors will be focusing on headlines on inverted yield curve which may potentially lead to a slowdown of global growth moving forward.
"Also, should any negative news emerge on the trade front, it is likely to cap the gains on Wall Street over the near term.
"Despite the FBM KLCI rebounding marginally yesterday, we believe the downward bias tone would persist over the near term with the unsettled trade developments between the US and China.
"Also, the slowdown of 2019 economic outlook by the Fed could be significant to affect global sentiment, eventually limiting upside on the KLCI (resistance will be located around 1,680-1,700)," it said.