KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI slipped further at Thursday's open after US inflation data came in as expected as offshore funds continue to flow out of the domestic market.
At the opening bell, the benchmark index was down 1.37 points to 1,601.83, suggesting that corrective pressures have once again taken hold of the market.
Rakuten Trade said it was "perplexed by the unrelenting foreign unloading that started in October, rendering the local bourse short of liquidity".
"Nonetheless, we believe 1,600 to remain as a solid psychological support for now thus expect the index to hover within the 1,600-1,610
today," it added in its daily outlook.
Overnight, the US consumer price index showed a 12-month inflation rate of 2.7% after increasing 0.3% on the month, meeting economist estimates.
Observers say the result reinforces the view that the Federal Reserve will lower its lending rate by another 25 basis points at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting this month.
The report sparked a 0.82% rally in the S&P500 to 6,084.19, and a 1.77% jump in the Nasdaq to a fresh record of 20,034.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22% to 44,148.
On the local market, Hong Leong Bank slumped 18 sen to RM20.32, IHH slid 12 sen to RM7.04 and Tenaga Nasional shed 12 sen to RM13.64 to weigh on the FBM KLCI.
New Main Market entry TMK Chemicals jumped 25 sen over its initial public offering price to RM2 after 14.54 million shares traded, making it the second most active counter on Bursa Malaysia.
Zentech topped the actives list, flat at one sen after 139.12 million shares done.
Datasonic was also actively traded with 12.3 million shares done, rising 2.5 sen to 45.5 sen.
