KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia should be taking its cue from Wall Street following the latter's sharp plunge overnight as US Treasury yields soared and investors await the Federal Reserve chairman's upcoming speech.
Apex Securities Research said it expects the negative performance in US markets to impact the local market given the escalation of geopolitical tension.
"We expect the FBM KLCI to remain sideways below the resistance of 1465 points," it said in a market review.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Research said it expects the technology sector to take a beating following the disappointing result from Tesla.
"We expect that the investors may shift their risk appetite towards defensive sector such as the Telco and Utilities, while REIT may turn attractive at least for the near term.
"Besides, the Energy sector may stay relevant under the firmer crude oil environment," it said in its commentary.
At the opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCI slipped 3.28 points lower to 1,443.26.
PETRONAS Chemicals led the decline with a 15 sen drop to RM7.50.
Bank meanwhile were mixed as Maybank rose three sen to RM8.98 while Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.15 and CIMB shed one sen to RM5.56.
Plantations counters, which led the previous session's rally, saw profit taking. Kuala Lumpur Kepong slid 28 sen to RM21.70, IOI dropped four sen to RM3.92 and Sime Darby Plantation
shed five sen to RM4.28
On the technology index, shares slipped 0.3% to 61.97. Laggards included Vitrox down four sen to RM7.18, CTOS falling three sen to RM1.42 and MPI sliding 28 sen to RM26.72.
Top actives on the market included Tanco down 0.5 sen to 57 sen, Ekovest unchanged at 47.5 sen and Sealink up 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen.
