KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI opened weaker on Thursday despite a modestly higher close for U.S. stocks overnight, with the S&P 500 securing its second consecutive all-time closing high.
The market barometer fell 1.26 points, or 0.08%, to 1,579.62 at 9:23 am after opening slightly lower by 0.26 points at 1,580.62.
Dealers observed that U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats on auto, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical imports added caution to the markets.
Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd expects market conditions to remain unsettled amid ongoing concerns over U.S. trade restrictions on major trading partners, which could impact Malaysia’s export performance, particularly in the AI sector.
As a result, mixed-to-lower conditions are expected to persist, diverging from the mostly firm key global equity markets as selling pressure continues.
Despite the weakness, Inter-Pacific noted that mild buying support for sector leaders could help keep the key index near the 1,580 level for now, with immediate support at 1,575 points and the next support level at 1,570 points.
“On the upside, the resistances are at around 1,582-1,585 levels, followed by 1,590 levels,” the research house said.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade suspects foreign funds may be reallocating their portfolios away from Asean and shifting to the Hong Kong market for now.
“Therefore, we expect this downtrend to be temporary as we believe more funds will re-direct their interests out of Wall Street to Asia, hence the spillover effect on the rest of the region.
“For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,580-1,590 range,” it said.
Among the decliners on Bursa Malaysia, Nestle slid 36 sen to RM89.64, Kotra fell 32 sen to RM4.18, United Plantations shed 18 sen to RM31.72 and Dufu lost 14 sen to RM1.45.
Conversely, Malaysian Pacific Industries
jumped 64 sen to RM21.60, F&N added 38 sen to RM26.54, Heineken gained 22 sen to RM26.70 and PETRONAS Gas rose 14 sen to RM17.68.
ACE Market's newly listed ES Sunlogy rose 0.5 sen, or 1.67%, to 30.5 sen. It is currently the most active counter, with 105.57 million shares traded.
