KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw a decline at midday due to selling pressure affecting certain prominent stocks, particularly in the plantation and financial services industries.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 1.99 points to 1,547.12 from Friday's close of 1,549.11.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.18 of-a-point lower at 1,548.93, fluctuated between 1,546.48 and 1,553.90.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 546 to 377, while 433 counters were unchanged.
Malacca Securities Research said buying interest should be sustained following last week's momentum as the market enters the full-blown corporate earnings season this week.
The firm added that the traders may still continue to chase into the utilities sector as YTL counters are deemed attractive in terms of valuations.
"Meanwhile, we noticed the technology sector's results were slightly positive last week, and we believe it may turn out stronger from second quarter onwards.
"Besides, we expect strong set of results from Telekom Malaysia Bhd to provide support towards the telco sector
"We opine that there might be more earnings surprises from the consumer and oil and gas sectors on the back of normalising costs and firmer crude oil price, respectively," it noted.