KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was in negative territory today as US inflation fears, that led to Wall Street's overnight decline, spilt over to the local market.
At 9.44am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 0.85 points to 1,628.94 from Tuesday's close of 1,629.79.
The index started the day 0.87 points lower at 1,628.92.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers 358 to 260, while 426 counters were unchanged.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Wall Street closed lower last night as the latest market data pointed to a higher-than-expected number of US job openings in November.
He added that this underscored economic resilience that might prompt the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to pause additional rate cuts.
Locally, Thong said the benchmark index is showing signs of recovery, supported by a positive exponential moving average (EMA) crossover and strong backing from local institutions.
"We believe the upward momentum will help the index regain its strength. "For today, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade within the range of 1,625–1,635," he told Business Times.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Thong said the Hang Seng Index (HSI) ended lower as Chinese tech stocks faced a sell-off following the US designation of dozens of Chinese firms as military-linked entities.
He noted that Tencent Holdings and Contemporary Amperex Technology were among those blacklisted, highlighting deteriorating trade relations between the two largest economies, with tensions expected to escalate under President-elect Donald Trump's tariff policies.