KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained in negative territory at midday amid cautious sentiment, as investors keenly awaited the US central bank's outlook for cues on the interest rate path in 2025.
At lunch break, the benchmark index fell 5.11 points, or 0.32%, to 1,601.74, off its intra-morning low of 1,601.08.
The broader market sagged, with decliners overtaking advancers 547 to 317 while 525 counters were unchanged. Turnover was 1.7 billion shares valued at RM1.03bil.
Nestle tumbled 96 sen to RM98.26, Hong Leong Bank slid 42 sen to RM20.02, Dutch Lady
fell 32 sen to RM30.24 and Hong Leong Financial Group lost 22 sen to RM18.02.
Conversely, United Plantation surged RM1.04 to RM33.04, BLD Plantation jumped 58 sen to RM11.46, Padini added 14 sen to RM2.32 and Ajinomoto gained 12 sen to RM15.48.
Newly listed Vanzo rose 20%, or three sen, to 18 sen. It is the most actively traded counter on Bursa Malaysia, with 169.3 million shares traded.
Rakuten Trade noted that there was some buying activity within the local bourse, indicating that 1,600 remains the immediate support at the moment.
It expects the index to trend between the 1,605-1,615 range today.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities believes buying interest may emerge on the local front amid ongoing window-dressing activities throughout December.
“We believe stocks that linked to data cente supply chain and technology will perform well under the stronger US dollar environment.
“Meanwhile, cocoa prices at a fresh record could benefit Guan Chong,” Malacca Securities said.
