KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market extended its sideways pattern on the price chart on Wednesday as it hugged the 200-day simple moving average amid an absence of fresh catalysts.
At 9.08am, the FBM KLCI was up a mere 0.14 points to 1,583.71 as investors awaited new trading leads.
However, Malacca Securities Research maintains its view that the market will continue to be supported by the recent inflow of offshore funds.
“We expect the support from the recent net foreign buying amid the recovery hopes following more sectors to be allowed to operate in the Klang Valley in anticipation of moving into Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan should be able to cushion the downside risk in the market,” it said.
On Tuesday, foreign investors continued to be net buyers with RM135.9mil net buying of Malaysian equities. Retailers were net buyers of RM49.5mil of equities while local institutions recorded net sales of RM185.4mil.
On the blue-chip index, Press Metal
took a breather after previously leading the market to a positive performance. The aluminium producer shed one sen to RM5.79 following strong gains in a previous session rally.
Financial counters meanwhile firmed up with Maybank rising two sen to RM8,.29, Public Bank gaining one sen to RM4.11 and CIMB adding one sen to RM4.92. Hong Leong Bank bucked the trend, losing eight sen to RM18.82.
Some notable decliners were Digi falling six sen to RM4.39, Petronas Gas shedding 18 sen to RM16.62 and Top Glove dropping four sen to RM3.63.
Among top actives on the broader market, Fintec was up 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen, PUC rose three sen to 19.5 sen and KNM fell one sen to 30.5 sen.
