KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI wobbled as traders took a breather from the rally ahead of major earnings releases in the US and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later this week.
After five consecutive days of gains, valuations on the benchmark index are looking toppish with heavyweight banks trading at historical highs. A return of foreign investors to Malaysia's Exchange saw the index put on more than 4% over the past week, with analysts suggesting there could be a pause in the buying spree for now.
The FBM KLCI fell 1.46 points at Wednesday's open to 1,759.79. By 9.17am, it had slipped a third of a percent or 5.06 points to 1,766.29.
"Market sentiment has strengthened in recent sessions, supported by sustained foreign inflows, improving market breadth and firmer blue-chip performance, lifting the FBM KLCI to fresh multi-year highs.
"This resilience has persisted despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, as the firmer ringgit, which has strengthened to a seven-year high of around USD/MYR 3.95, continues to support domestic risk appetite," said Apex Research in its review.
"In the near term, we expect market momentum to be maintained, although investors may remain cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision and guidance on the timing of potential rate cuts.
"Attention will also turn to a heavy slate of Big Tech earnings, including results from Microsoft, Meta and Tesla on Jan 28, followed by Apple on Jan 29, which could shape broader market sentiment and risk appetite."
Major banks on the bourse were resilient to profit-taking, with Maybank sliding two sen to RM11.74, CIMB falling five sen to RM8.90, RHB sliding one sen to RM8.40 and Public Bank losing three sen to RM4.97. Traders continued to buy up Hong Leong Bank, which added eight sen to RM25.16, while Ambank stayed flat at RM6.68.
Consumer play Nestle fell RM1.70 to RM113.90, Gamuda dropped eight sen to RM4.63 and PETRONAS Dagangan shed 22 sen to RM20.98.
ISF Group made its debut on the ACE Market today, surging 17 sen to 50 sen on robust volume of 160 million shares to make it the most actively traded counter.
TWL dropped 0.5 sen to two sen while Capital A dropped two sen to 55.5 sen.
