KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's main stock index barely moved in the opening minutes of Monday trading as the absence of fresh trading leads left investors struggling for direction.
At 9am, the FBM KLCI was up 1.05 points to 1,506.5, with investors searching for bargains amid the strong apprehension over US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs that are set to come into effect on April 2.
Foreign selling on the domestic market was unabated in the previous week with a net outflow of RM1.25bil, while local institutions shored up the beleaguered market.
"Though we noticed some early buying support, this evaporated as foreign disposal became more pronounced," said Rakuten Trade in its market review.
"As a result, we expect the index to hover within the 1,500-1,510 range today."
TA Securities said stocks should extend fains on bargain-hunting at current oversold levels, but noted that persisting volatility amid uncertaines over the outcome on global trade tariffs may cap upside.
"Immediate index resistance is retained at 1,550, followed by 1,580, with tougher upside hurdle at 1,605. Immediate support is revised upwards to 1,500, with stronger key retracement supports seen at 1,472 and 1,450," said the research firm in its market commentary.
On the index today, Nestle was the most improved counter, rising RM2.06 to RM66.06, while IHH gained 12 sen to RM7.02 and PETRONAS Chemicals added three sen to RM3.69.
Most actively traded stocks on Bursa Malaysia included Saliran up one sne to 26.5 sen, Sapura Energy
unchanged at 4.5 sen and Kanger down 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen.
