KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained in bearish mode at market close today with a lack of market catalysts.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 3.96 points to 1,449.58 from Wednesday's close of 1,453.54.The index opened 4.32 points lower at 1,449.22 and fluctuated between 1,445.31 and 1,455.09 throughout the session.
However, market breadth gainers outnumbered decliners 527 to 342 while 459 counters were unchanged, 1,006 untraded and nine suspended.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said there is not much action in the local market today.
Although the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) beat has not caused a significant reaction, local markets are still cautious due to the weak ringgit, a signal of muted overseas interest.
The narrative has shifted back to the tricky dynamics of early August, accompanied by a substantial increase in oil prices, leading to global inflation fears, he added.
"As the economy softens, the situation on the US rates front is expected to eventually settle down, which should be good for local markets.
However, China remains a potential source of uncertainty, compounding these tricky dynamics," he told the New Straits Times.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said there were more buying interests on plantation, healthcare and telco stocks while selling on the energy sector.
However, he said the FBM KLCI finished in negative territory as investors have shifted their buying interests to smaller cap stocks.
Echoing Rakuten, Tradeview Capital fund manager Neoh Jia Man, almost all sub-sector indices such as plantation, property, construction are positive.
"Only the Financial index is negative and it is purely due to Maybank going ex-dividend which is the heaviest weight in the FBM KLCI Index recorded a 3.0 per cent decline in price after having gone ex-dividend," he said.
Pak Leng said as such the benchmark index was stuck in a consolidation mode due to cautious trading and remained lagging as compared to its regional peers while at the same time providing cheaper valuations.
However, the market's tone is now more steady, as compared with the start of the week, following the release of US CPI data.
"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,450-1,460 towards the weekend," he added.