KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market slipped in early trade on Monday following a weak performance on Wall Street last Friday as investors continued to rotate out of Big Tech and take profit.
The FBM KLCI started slightly positive but slipped 3.3 points to 1,633.25 by 9.10am.
Apex Securities Research said it expects an extended consolidation on the local bourse amid an absence of fresh leads.
However, any downside is expected to be well cushioned by the return of foreign funds.
Looking ahead, it said investors will remain focused on the barrage of US corporate earnings releases.
"Sector wise, we expect the technology sector to remain downbeat, while the oil and gas sector as oil prices tumbled on concern over sluggish demand from China.
"Amidst the volatile market condition, we remain defensive, favouring the REIT and Telco sectors," it said.
Among the leading blue chips, Press Metal
dropped six sen to RM5.50, MISC shed six sne to RM8.59 and Maxis fell four sen to RM3.59.
There was ongoing weakness in the tech sector with MPI losing 16 sen ot RM38.40, Inari Amertron dropping four sen to RM3.81 and MI Technovation losing five sen to RM2.45.
Meanwhile, BWYS made its debut on the ACE market, rising 13 sen to 35 sen on leading active trade of 106.3 million shares.
Ingenieur gained one sen ot six sen and Eduspec was down 0.5 sen to 15.5 sen.
