Investor sentiment turns cautious ahead of corporate earnings

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI slipped below the 1,600 pshychological support in morning trade as the market succumbed to selling pressure following recent gains.

Backing further away from the 50-day simple moving average, investors displayed caution as Corporate Malaysia is due to release a tide of earnings results over the coming days.

Extending yesterday's decline, the FBM KLCI was down 8.1 points to 1,598.04.

Trading volume, which has been elevated in post-Lunar New Year trading, remained on pace with 5.99 billion shares exchanging hands for RM2.78bil.

Leading the decline was Petronas Chemicals, which fell 23 sen to RM7.52. Axiata was 11 sen lower at RM3.44.

Bank stocks retreated with Maybank down five sen to RM8.09, Hong Leong Bank falling 14 sen to RM18.36, CIMB dropping two sen to RM4.26 and Public Bank edging one sen lower to RM4.21.

Glove stocks however were buoyant, led by Supermax gaining 22 sen to RM6.08. Top Glove rose nine sen to RM6.15 and Hartalega added four sen to RM12.48.

Of actives, DGB dropped three sen to 11.5 sen, Sapura Energy rose one sen to 14.5 sen and Dagang Nexchange added one sen to 55 sen.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets tracked the mixed overnight performance on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.5% and South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.1%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.65% while the mainland's markets remained closed until tomorrow.

Australia's ASX200 added 0.4%.