KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell sharply in early trade, with profit-taking seen in Press Metal
and CIMB as investors took money off the table following the overnight slide on Wall Street.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 1.56% to 30,946.99. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite eased 2.01% and 2.98% to end at 3,821.55 and 11,181.54 respectively.
At 9.19am, the index lost 4.67 points, or 0.32% to 1,450.07. It opened 4.29 points lower at 1,450.45.
“We may see further oversold rebound this week in anticipation of 1H22 window dressing activities, supported by bottoming up technical indicators,” Hong Leong Investment Bank said.
However, it said further upside may be capped near stiff neckline resistances at 1,478-1,500 levels.
“Conversely, failure to hold at 1,428 (23 June low) support may trigger further selloff towards 1,400 levels,” it added.
TA Securities said trading is expected to stay choppy as nagging doubts over inflation and the drag from aggressive interest rate hikes creep in to dampen the global growth outlook.
“On the index, key chart support stays at 1,427, last Thursday's intra-day low, which must hold to prevent a further selloff to the next crucial support seen at 1,394, the 38.2%FR level.
“The next critical support below will be 1,323, which is the 23.6%FR level. Immediate overhead resistance will be 1,480, and then the 1,500 psychological level, with 1,520, 1,540 and 1,570 as tougher upside hurdles,” TA Securities said.
On Bursa Malaysia, Nestle lost RM1.70 to RM133.70. Malaysian Pacific Industries eased RM1.04 to RM27.76, PPB fell 32 sen to RM15.78, F&N declined 24 sen to RM20.74 and Petron Malaysia shed 12 sen to RM5.76.
Among the gainers, Tenaga added nine sen to RM8.05, Hartalega climbed six sen to RM2.71 and KLCC rose six sen to RM6.77.
