KUALA LUMPUR: As Corporate Malaysia enters its final week of the results period, the lack of surprises from the ongoing releases could keep the market range-bound.
Apex Equities Research opined the FBM KLCI could remain moving in a sideways direction due to the corporate results coming in within expectations.
However, it added that the drop in US Treasury yields to multi-month lows on expectations of cooling inflation could cushion any downside.
"Back home, investors will be keeping a close watch onto Malaysia’s producer price index on Tuesday this week. At the same time, US new home sales and S&P Global Manufacturing PMI data will be in focus," it said in a note.
At the opening bell, the FBM KLCI was down 0.77 points to 1,453.15 and lying against the 21-day simple moving average.
The index remains slightly lower on selling pressure in MISC down five sen to RM7.14, Tenaga falling four sen to RM9.96 and CIMB shedding two sen to RM5.73.
Genting, however, continued to rise following the release of positive earnings last week. The share gained four sen to RM4.57, while subsidiary Genting Malaysia rose three sen to RM2.68.
On the broader market, Hextar Technologies slid 40 sen to RM23.30, Oppstar dropped 20 sne to RM1.51 and Pertama Digital shed eight sen to RM3.05.
Meanwhile, Panda Eco System made its debut on the ACE Market at 29 sen, or 13 sen higher than its initial public offering price. The stock was the top traded with 61.6 million shares exchanging hands as at 9.10am.
Other top actives included Hong Seng up 0.5 sen to three sen, EA Holdings
flat at one sen and Top Glove down 0.5 sen to 89.5 sen.
