KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market continued to slide as investors awaited the release of earnings reports from Corporate Malaysia.
At the start of trading, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 2.54 points to 1,580.22 as investors digested the gains from the recent rally, in the absence of any fresh leads from Wall Street, which was closed for the President's Day holiday.
"As we enter into a fresh earnings period over the next two weeks, investors may wait for the results before committing themselves," said Rakuten Trade in its morning note.
The research firm added that it expects earnings growth for 4Q24 to be good as it forecast a 16.9% improvement over the financial year.
"Thus, we reckon yesterday’s lacklustre performance may be an opening for some bargain hunting activities hence expect the index to hover within the 1,580-1,590 range today."
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Research said global markets will be watching the peace talks between the US and Russia on ending the war in Ukraine, which will be held in Saudi Arabia this week and attended by top officials from both countries.
It said further leads for global traders will come from retail and tech giants Walmart and Alibaba, which are set to announce their results this week.
"On the China and Hong Kong front, we believe the symposium, attended by most of China’s business leaders, will boost sentiment for China and Hong Kong exchanges."
Among Malaysia's blue chips, Maybank slid eight sen to RM10.48, Genting shed five sen to RM3.86 and Nestle lost 10 sen to RM91.02.
There was also selling in PETRONAS Chemicals, down four sen to RM3.97 and QL Resources, slipping four sen to RM4.67.
Of actives, IT security and automation solutions provider Techstore rose six sen to 26 sen on its trading debut. Ingenieur rose 0.5 sen to six sen and CME lost 0.5 sen to one sen.
