KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia fell in early trade in line with regional and US stocks performance amid lack of catalysts on the local front.
At 9.10 am, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 3.22 points to 1,673.39 from yesterday's close of 1,676.61.
The index opened 2.38 points lower at 1,674.23.
Losers beat gainers led losers 121 to 84 with 188 counters unchanged, 1,500 untraded and 23 suspended.
Turnover stood at 99.75 million worth RM46.22 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI remained toppish.
"We continue to think that a pullback is overdue after the near 100 points gain over the past month.
"We maintain our view that the upsides were already overdone as there is little change to the corporate Malaysia’s fundamentals that also led to the valuation perching at the top end of its historical forward averages," it said in a note today.
It said investors’ attention also shifted to the upcoming meeting between the US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Japan, to see if the two leaders could salvage any hope on their deadlocked trade negotiations.
Overall, the broader market is seeing reduced following, amid the lack of positive leads, despite continued institutions support on selected index-linked stocks.
Hence, it sees the FBM KLCI to further consolidate over the near term with immediate support at 1,670 -1,672 levels, while resistances are at 1,682 and 1,689 respectively.
The overnight S&P 500 was down by one per cent to 2,917.38 while Dow Jones dropped 0.7 per cent to 26,548.22 after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Hayden Powell warned of the increasing downside risks to the economy.
Among heavyweights, Maybank dropped one sen to RM8.92, Public Bank was eight sen lower at RM22.94, Tenaga went down eight sen to RM13.92 and Petronas Chemicals declined one sen to RM8.42.
Of the actively-traded stocks, electronics manufacturing services company, VS Industry rose four sen to RM1.16, while Pegasus and Iskandar Waterfront were unchanged at one sen and RM1.08 respectively.
The FBM Emas Index fell 17.97 points to 11,789.25, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 17.77 points to 11,644.43 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 15.48 points to 12,148.09.
The FBM 70 edged lower by 3.31 points to 14,632.12 while the FBM Ace lost 2.48 points to 4,389.53.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 26.75 points to 16,680.18, and the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.14 of-a-point to 160.89 and the Plantation Index eased 5.33 points to 6,970.93.