KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed the midday session in negative territory due to profit-taking activities.
At 12:30 PM, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 0.23 per cent, dropping 3.76 points to 1,602.37 from the previous day's close of 1,606.13.
The broader market was negative, with 834 decliners outnumbering 280 gainers, and 445 counters remaining unchanged.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd anticipates that trading opportunities will become more selective, emphasising companies with strong fundamentals in the Technology sector, particularly those involved in data centres, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing, which are expected to remain key drivers at this time.
"While some of the construction, property and utilities players are consolidating, we may shift our attention to stocks within the Consumer, Shipping, Finance and Packaging for trading opportunities," it said.
In the commodity markets, the note mentioned that Brent oil continued to rise, surpassing the US$85 per barrel mark, driven by expectations that summer demand might reduce oil inventories.
Meanwhile, gold prices stabilised around US$2,330.
Crude palm oil (CPO) remains trading in a narrow range of RM3,900 to RM4,000.