KUALA LUMPUR: The blue-chip FBM KLCI opened slightly lower in early morning trade as global investor sentiment was eroded by US President Donald Trump's green light for tariffs on Canada and Mexico to proceed.
At the start of Tuesday trading, the benchmark dropped 1.52 points to 1,582.73, suggesting that a continuation of the consolidation channel on the domestic market.
As the fourth-quarter earnings period enters its final days, investors continue to look out for buying opportunities in blue chips. The country's financial heavyweights have yet to announce their end-2024 results.
Rakuten Trade maintains a positive outlook on the domestic market as foreign funds unload their holdings in the Southeast Asian region.
"We see this as an excellent opportunity to mop up shares as foreign funds will certainly make a comeback sooner than later.
"Hence for today, we anticipate the index to hover betweenthe 1,580-1,590 range as we enter into a busy results period," said the research firm in a note.
Malacca Securities Research in its morning report also sees opportunities to accumulate in the construction and retail sectors given their oversold conditions, a solid outlook and steady earnings reports from 99 Speed Mart.
"Despite recent sell offs, we believe traders may look out forbargain hunting activities as Microsoft’s core strategy remains intact for its data centre strategy and their 10-year outlook for cloud and AI.
"Meanwhile, we opine that selected healthcare and technology stocks like KPJ and ITMAX will be decent for long-term investment," it added.
Notable laggards in morning trade included Ambank down 10 sen to RM5.66, KPJ falling eight sen to RM2.45 and MPI shedding 50 sen to RM19.12.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong dropped 38 sen to ARM21.04 while PETRONAS Dagangan slid 20 sen to RM20.70.
Of actives, Ingenieur dropped 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen, Elridge rose 0.5 sen to 47.5 sen and Southern Cable gained two sen to RM1.15.
