KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation reading will be in focus over the coming week, keeping investors cautious even as optimism edges higher on a pause in the US rate hike path.
According to Malacca Securities Research, the pullback on Wall Street last Friday is deemed healthy given its recent strong gains.
"Whilst bargain hunting activities are likely to emerge, the local bourse may see upside to be capped for now with the investors keeping an eye on Malaysia’s inflation reading due this week," said the research firm.
It said the energy and plantation stocks may shine as commodities prices charged higher while technology stocks may continue to climb on the back of a positive outlook on artificial technology.
The aviation and travel-related sectors may also gain traction amid normalisation of economic activities, it said.
According to Malacca Securities' technical reading, the indicators remained mixed as the MACD Histogram extended a positive bar, while the RSI hovered above 50.
"The resistance is set along 1,400-1,440 while the support is located around 1,370," it added.
At the start of Monday trading, the bellwether FBM KLCI was down 4.72 points to 1,383.89, keeping the index close to the 14-day simple moving average.
Out of the leading blue chips, there was a strong pullback seen in Press Metal
, which fell 24 sen to RM4.76, and Maxis, which dove 27 sen to RM4.28.
Tenaga Nasional fell nine sen to RM9.11, IHH dropped seven sen to RM5.89 and Genting slipped 15 sen to RM4.20.
Other decliners on the market included D&O shedding 22 sen to RM3.93, F&N falling 18 sen to RM25.52 and PMB Tech sliding 11 sen to RM3.90.
Meanwhile, top actives included SCIB up 0.5 sen to 41 sen, Boustead Plantations rising 5.5 sen to 94.5 sen and M Bright gaining 0.5 sen to 17 sen.
