KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI dipped in morning trade as the consolidation phase continued on the local market ahead of the US corporate earnings season.
"The overall technical outlook appears to be consolidating, evidenced by the distance of the key SMAs," said Kenanga research in a morning note.
"However, we believe there is a possibility that the index may continue to rebound, as RSI seems to be bouncing off from the oversold zone."
It pegged key resistance levels at 1,660 and 1,700 and downside supports at 1,625 and 1,615.
At 12.30pm, the local index was down 3.3 points to 1,641.05. Trading volume was 2.1 billion shares valued at RM1.17bil. There were 377 decliners verus 328 gainers and 398 counters unchanged.
Top decliners included Maxis losing 11 sen to RM5.59, IHH dropping six sen to RM5.52 and MAHB falling 14 sen to RM6.94.
In research notes released today, analysts said uncertainty over whether further provisions will be made on Fortis was weighing on IHH.
Meanwhile, advancing stocks included KL Kepong rising 20 sen to RM25.12, Petronas Gas climbing eight sen to RM17.68 and IOI climbing two sen to RM4.55.
Top active counters included Sapura Energy
losing 0.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Priceworth trading unchanged at 7.5 sen and Bumi Armada adding 0.5 sen to 20.5 sen.
In global markets, investors are cautious over the coming US corporate earnings season, with analysts expecting a first quarter of earnings contraction since 2015.
Other potential catalysts investors are wary of include a trade meeting between the EU and China later today as well as the Brexit summit.
Looking at the key Asian indices, equities began ticking higher in the mid-morning session following an earlier decline.
Chinese markets turned optimistic with the Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.1% while the CSI300 Index rose 0.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.3% while Japan's Nikkei Index gained 0.1% and South Korea's Kospi added 0.25%.
Oil markets extended their rally on continued Opec supply cuts and US sanctions.Brent crude rose eight cents to US$71.18 a barrel and US crude gained 14 cents to US$64.54 a barrel.
The ringgit meanwhile rose 0.1% against the US dollar at 4.0947, and gained 0.1% against the pound sterling at 5.3538 while losing 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0241.
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