KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning as an overnight selloff on Wall Street spooked investors.
At 9:14am, the key index was 9.67 points or 0.6 per cent lower to 1,611.47 from Wednesday's close of 1,621.14. The index opened 4.06 points lower at 1,617.08.
On broader market, losers led gainers 634 to 61, with 219 counters unchanged, 1,574 untraded and 17 suspended.
Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) said the overnight selloff on Wall Street will continue to weigh on the performance of the FBM KLCI today.
The research firm said a disappointing start to the megacap earnings season in the US will affect the local tech stocks. "Technically, we expect the benchmark index to range between 1,610pts and 1,630pts today, with support at 1,600 and 1,575," it added.
Malacca Securities said selling pressure re-emerged after one day of rebound, causing the FBM KLCI, FBM 70, and FBM Small Cap indices to end in negative territory yesterday, dragged down by industrial products and construction-related stocks.
"With the AI-driven rally pausing and correcting in the US, we believe more profit-taking activities may emerge on our local front. Nevertheless, we believe this could be an opportunity to buy the dip going forward, especially in relation to the data center theme in our local market," it said.
The research firm said it prefers the construction, property, utilities, and building materials segments.
Malacca Securities also like selected stocks within the shipping and technology sectors, as it observe the upward trend remains intact.