Bursa Malaysia continues downtrend as investors remain on cautious mode

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia continued on its downtrend on Thursday, as investors remained on cautious mode and continued to sell stocks across the board.

At 9.45am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 7.61 points to 1,590.57 from yesterday's close of 1,598.18.

The benchmark index began the day 1.63 points higher at 1,599.81.

On the broader market, gainers led losers 400 to 203, while 369 counters remained unchanged.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI ended below the psychological 1,600 level again yesterday as investors remain mostly sidelined.

He noted that although he expects some window dressing activities to emerge, the impact may be rather subdued as sentiment has turned cautious over the past month.

"Therefore, we believe the local bourse will be stuck within a tight trading range of between 1,595-1,610 in the absence of any strong buying catalysts," he told Business Times.

Meanwhile, Thong said Wall Street closed on a positive note due to late buying activities after days of decline.

He added that buying interests were mostly centered on Nvidia whose earnings came in after the closing bell were better than expectations.

Over in Hong Kong, he said the Hang Seng Index (HSI) managed to stay above water following positive comments from fund managers that Chinese equities are currently trading at bargain levels.

"However, buying activities remained rather muted over expectations on Trump's policy going forward," he noted.