KUALA LUMPUR: US President Donald Trump's promise of escalating tariffs dampened trading sentiment, sending Bursa Malaysia back into profit-taking mode.
At the start of Monday trading, the FBM KLCI dropped 3.26 points to 1,587.65, on the back of a weekend announcement by the US President that he will announce reciprocal tariffs this week on all its trading partners.
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Malacca Securities Research, however, said the stronger dollar outlook coupled with the ongoing US-China trade tensions will bode well for the local glove sector.
The research firm also maintained in its report a positive outlook on the renewable energy, construction, and property sectors, driven by various government initiatives like JSSEZ and NETR.
Rakuten Trade is taking a more bullish outlook on the market performance as the slow down in fund outflows in the previous week could indicate foreign funds are returning to Malaysian shores.
"On the home front, the FBM KLCI continues with its climb to land at 1,590 as we believe foreign funds may have returned," said Rakuten Trade in its market outlook.
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"Though the daily trading volume remains subdued we are hopeful that this will improve as foreign money trickles back. For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,585-1,595 range," it added.
On Bursa Malaysia, notable decliners included F&N down 34 sen to RM25.86, Gamuda shedding 11 sen to RM4.45 and CIMB dropping 10 sne to RM8.29.
YTL Power was also down six sen to RM3.38 while Inari Amertron
fell six sen to RM2.66.
Of actives, Colform rose two sen to 38 sen in the first 15 munutes of its debut on the ACE Market, after heavy trading volume 61.63 million shares.
TWL was flat at 2.5 sen and Harvest Miracle gained 0.5 sen to 17.5 sen.
