KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI fell in morning trading as investors took profit from financials after a weak showing by Wall Street's large-cap banks overnight.
At 12.30pm, Malaysia's benchmark index was down 9.19 points to 1,667.64 with bank heavyweights such as Maybank and Hong Leong Bank leading the decline.
In energy-related plays, Tenaga Nasional, PETRONAS Gas and PETRONAS Chemicals were also targets of selling.
Bursa Malaysia has yet to see a return in investor sentiment after a rally in blue chips stalled in the closing week of December. Traders are keeping to the sidelines as they await a domestic trigger to push beyond a 15-month peak, even as geopolitical tensions trouble the global outlook.
Online broker Rakuten Trade has noted in its market reports that persistent selling by foreign funds is exerting negative pressure on the market, even as local institutions provide buying support in blue chips.
However, it said the return of foreign buyers would help to rebalance the market. "We are still hopeful that foreign funds will turn net buyers anytime soon after a net foreign outflow of more than RM22bil last year," it said in its latest note.
On the market scoreboard, there were 496 gainers compared to 425 decliners, while 493 counters remained unchanged. Trading volume was 1.45 billion shares valued at RM1.28bil.
The sectors that pulled into the red were financial services, consumer, industrial, transport and telcos.
Of actively traded stocks, Zetrix AI rose 1.5 sen to 83 sen, Tanco gained two sen to RM1.22 and MMAG was flat at 7.5 sen.
Elsewhere in the region, traders were also cashing out of financial stocks. China's blue-chip CSI300 lost 0.59% as financial stocks were routed on prfit-taking activities.
The Shanghai Composite index started the day underwater but at midday but erased gains as the morning progressed to stand at a flattish 4,087 point.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.31% to 26,111.
Japan's Nikkei was down 1.25% to 51, 318 while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.83% to 4,589.
