KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market remained wobbly on Wednesday as the Trump-inspired rally on Wall Street took a breather while investors digested recent gains.
At the opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCI was 0.18 points higher at 1,608.61, but slipped slightly to 1,604.83 in the first five minutes of trading.
The local bourse has been trading lower over the past four consecutive sessions, and could be looking at a fifth straight day of declines given the absence of buying leads.
A raft of economic reports are due to be released this week, including Malaysia's gross domestic product on Friday. In te US, investors are looking ahead to inflation reports that could offer more clues as to the US Federal Reserve's rate decision.
Due to the added caution, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.86% to 43,910.98. The S&P 500 lost 0.29% to 5,983.99 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.09% to 19,281.40.
On the home front, Malacca Securities Research said technology and gloves will benefit from the stronger dollar environment, and maintains a positive outlook on plantations due to indonesia's higher biodiesel mandates.
Looking ahead to the peak corporate results period, the research firm said selected construcion, property and building materials stocks are expected to gain momentum.
On the blue-chip index, bank stocks were weighed down, including Maybank falling six sen to RM10.42, CIMB shedding two sen to RM8.18 and Public Bank slipping two sen to RM4.42.
Tenaga Nasional was the rare gainer, rising 12 sen to RM14.22.
Of actives, Life Water surged 15 sen to 80 sen on its Main Market debut, Heineken jumped 12 sen to RM23.04 and Carlsberg climbed eight sen to RM20.10.
