KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market is expected to take a pause from the rally as investors digest recent gains.
In a note, Apex Securities Research said the lower liners make take a breather from the recent extended rally, which pushed most stocks into overbought territory.
"Still, a pullback is deemed to be healthy for recent gains to be digested to allow fresh legs to takeover," it said.
As the year-end festive season approaches, the research firm said it expects trading activities to be muted although a sharp rebound in aluminium prices may present some trading opportunities within selected building materials players.
At the open, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 0.89 points to 1,461.56 amid slight profit-taking pressure.
Telekom Malaysia dropped eight sen to RM5.41, Genting slid two sen to RM4.68 and Press Metal
was down three sen to RM4.90.
PETRONAS Dagangan lost 14 sen to RM21.94 while PETRONAS Gas fell 14 sen to RM17.60.
On the broader market, Gamuda was down seven sen to RM4.58, MAHB dropped 16 sen to RM7.40 and United Plantation slid 24 sen to RM17.26.
Top actives included market debutant Critical Holdings, surging 115 sen to 46.5 sen while TWL was flat at 3.5 sen and Nexgram gained 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen.
