KUALA LUMPUR: A weak showing on Wall Street last Friday weighed on the domestic market amid fears that the escalating trade tariffs could spike inflation and weaken economic growth.
The benchmark FBM KLCI opened 4.64 points lower, erasing most of the gains made in last Friday's session.
Rakuten Trade, however, remains optimistic that foreign funds are making a comeback in view of the positive market performance in the region.
"As mentioned numerously, we expect a flight of funds out of US equities to Asian ones attributed tobetter risk/reward ratio.
"For today, we expect the index to trend within the 1,590-1,600 range," it said in a note.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Research said it saw trading opportunities in industrial products and service, given its rebound towards the 20-day moving average, coupled with stronger earnings from PETRONAS Chemicals.
It added it remained optimistic over glove counters despite the recent sell-off as they remain supported by healthy restocking activities comparable to the post-Covid era and the tariffs on Chinese glove manufacturers.
On the technical outlook of the FBM KLCI, it said the indicators remain weak.
"The MACD Histogram has turned negative, while RSIcontinues to point downward, indicating weaker sentiment at this juncture.
"Resistance is anticipated around 1,606-1612 while support is set at 1,571-1,576," it added.
In early trade, blue chips on the backfoot included Nestle falling 76 sen to R89.74, Tenaga Nasionals liding 22 sen to RM13.76, PETRONAS Chemicals falling 18 sen to RM3.96 and YTL Power shedding nine sen to RM3.13.
Top actives were Ingenieur up 0.5 sen to 5.5 sen, Harvest Miracle gaining 0.5 sen to 13.5 sen and MYEG ganiing two sen to RM1.02.
