KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia commenced with a slight dip in a subdued early trading session, preceding the long weekend break for Chinese New Year.
At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.78 of-a-point to 1,512.20 from Tuesday's close of 1,512.98.
The benchmark index opened 0.47 of-a-point easier at 1,512.51.
As at 9.26am the FBM KLCI was down 1.45 points or 0.1 per cent to 1,511.53.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 203 to 163, while 264 counters were unchanged.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed in positive territory yesterday following a rather volatile afternoon session illustrating a strong market undertone.
He added that despite the persistent buying from foreign funds, retail participation may have dried out as depicted by the lower daily volume of late.
"Nonetheless, we are confident that funds flowing into the blue chips will eventually spill over to the smaller caps plus the positive intervention from China in shoring up both the Chinese and Kong Kong markets. "Thus, we expect the index to hover within the 1,510-1,520 range today," he told Business Times. Meanwhile, Thong said Wall Street ended higher as traders are assessing the latest batch of corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve's timeline of easing interest rates which will be later than the highly anticipated March.
He said as a result, the Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) Average jumped by 141 points while the Nasdaq added 11 points with the US 10-year yield easing to 4.09 per cent.Over in Hong Kong, Thong noted that the Hang Seng Index (HSI) rallied to close 627 points higher at above the 16,000 level amid interventions from China's sovereign fund coupled with new curbs on short selling activities.