KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia stays in the negative territory at midday break as profit taking activities continue in light of cautious sentiments.
At 12.30 pm, the key index shed 0.77 points or 0.05 per cent to 1,457.22 after trading within the 1,454.61 and 1,458.13 levels.
Gainers led losers 424 to 385 in the broader market with 2.27 billion shares changed hands in the morning trading session.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said trading activities may slow down in the local front given the external events such as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting which caused Wall Street to also trend sideways.
Attention may also be shifted towards domestic catalysts, such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) as well as the recent memorandum of understanding that were signed over the weekend.
"Commodities wise, the Brent crude oil has continued its uptrend move above US$94 per barrel level, while the crude palm oil (CPO) prices closed below the RM3,800 per tonne level.
"With the FOMC meeting to be concluded by tomorrow, we expect traders to focus on NETR and NIMP blueprints, while we expect the construction sector to rebound amid the potential rally ahead of the budget next month.
"Besides, we opine that the traders will look out for oil and gas stocks amid stronger Brent oil prices," it added.
On the index board, FBM 100 gained 4.83 points or 0.05 per cent to 10,439.47, FBM Emas added 6.73 points or 0.06 per cent to 10,769.05 and FBM Ace rose 8.55 points or 0.16 per cent to 5,197.99.
Of the actives, UEM Sunrise Bhd added half a sen to 85 sen and KNM Group Bhd gained one sen to 11.5 sen.