KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI fell 9.57 points to 1,702.76 at 9.20am, in light of the growing geopolitical tension and the absence of domestic catalysts to drive the index higher.
A shuttered Wall Street due to a US national holiday yesterday left Bursa Malaysia with few leads, although traders were rattled by the escalating feud between the US and EU nations over Greenland.
However, Rakuten Trade said in its morning note the local bourse remained well-supported despite due to the continued inflow of foreign funds.
"We believe foreign funds will remain net buyers of which we have seen over the past few sessions. Thus, for today, we expect the index to trend within the 1,710- 1,720 range," it added.
On the blue-chip index, banks were among the biggest losers. Hong Leong Bank dropped 32 sen to RM23.98, CIMB shed eight sen to RM8.29 and Public Bank lost six sen to RM4.74.
Among actively traded stocks, SMRT, which had plunged yesterday on a surprise earnings downgrade, rebounded 1.5 sen to 20 sen.
IJM continued to lose weight amid news of a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into the company. The share slid 12 sen to RM2.53.
Capital A also bounced back 1.5 sen to 52 sen after falling yesterday.
