Bursa Malaysia traded lower in this week's trading session due to a lack of market catalysts and in turn has driven the key index to maintain its downtrend.
At 10.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index declined 10.64 points to 1,537.87 after opening 0.89 points lower at 1,547.62 this morning.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by 263 to 154, while 306 counters were unchanged, 1,553 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover stood at 220.87 million units worth RM111.02 million.
Malacca Securities said the local bourse is likely to see potential low-value stock hunting activity amid the Covid-19 daily case which continues to show a decline.
At the same time, investors are waiting for Malaysia's inflation rate data which is expected to be published this Friday.
The significant decrease in daily Covid-19 cases also indirectly sent a positive signal for recovery sectors such as consumers, tourism and construction to continue to gain focus.
Despite the weaker market sentiment, the technology sector was not left behind to be given warm attention by local investors as buying interest in this sector was seen to continue to increase.
For heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata jumped four sen each to RM8.29 and RM3.95, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healtcare remained at RM7.94 and RM6.70 respectively.
TNB rose two sen to RM9.92, Public Bank declined three sen to RM4.03 and CIMB fell one sen to RM4.81.
For active stocks, KNM rose one sen to 27.5 sen, Emico added 1.5 sen to 68 sen and Bioalpha rose half -a -sen to 23 sen.
On the index board, the FBM 100 slipped 31.63 points to 11,028.23, the FBM 70 fell 48.74 points to 14,958.55 and the FBM ACE fell 6.96 points to 7,194.26.
The FBM Emas index fell 30.38 points to 11,335.44 and the FBM Emas Shariah index declined 32.93 points to 12,381.21.
By sector, the Financial Services index fell 47.40 points to 15,242.40, the Industrial Products and Services index declined 0.64 points to 198.97 and the Plantation index rose 12.22 points to 6,438.64.
