KUALA LUMPUR: There are indications of continued upside for Bursa Malaysia as the flow of foreign funds has turned towards the Malaysian market while the ringgit rebounded strongly against the US dollar after hitting its lowest in recent memory.
The ringgit strengthened significantly from RM4.7925/USD to RM4.6330/USD as foreign investors scooped up local equities, noted Malacca Securities Research.
However, the research firm warned of the onset of profit-taking activities after Wall Street ended only slightly higher following the run up by more than 5-7% across the three major benchmark indices, while the 10-year US Treasury yield has risen ahead of the US Federal Reserve speech this week.
On the domestic new front, investors are looking ahead to the release of economic data to gauge the health of Malaysia's economy.
High on the list is the country's third-quarter gross domestic product, scheduled for this Friday, while industrial production data is slated for later today.
At the opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCO was 0.62 points lower at 1,464.05 as investors took a breather following a three-day buying spree.
There was some mild profit-taking in some banking counters after the strong push in the previous session, with CIMB falling four sen to RM5.77 and Public Bank dropping one sen to RM4.24.
Maybank, however, maintained its gains and rose one sen to RM9.12.
Also losing stream was PETRONAS Chemicals, shedding six sen to RM7.28 and Tenaga Nasional sliding four sen to RM9.96.
Some other notable laggards included QL Resources diving 15 sen to RM5.65 while Carlsberg lost eight sen to RM20.04 and Pertama Digital slipped four ssen to RM3.97.
Top actives included EA Technique
up 3.5 sen to 37.5 sen, Zentech unchanged at two sen and Tanco flat at 57 sen.
