The market could be pricing in softer economic growth globally as China is still having lockdowns on and off in various regions, Malacca Securities said in a note.
It said that given the violent selloff on Wall Street overnight, we believe the technology sector may continue to struggle.
Nevertheless, the stockbroking firm said that the elevated commodity prices should continue to support the relevant sectors such as energy and plantation; crude oil price remained supported above USD110 per barrel mark, while the CPO price is hovering above RM6,600.
On the local bourse yesterday, Malacca Securities said that the FBM KLCI (-1.1%) erased all its intraday gains from the opening bell, dragged by quick profit-taking in more than two-thirds of the key index components yesterday.
It said that the lower liners also retreated, but the energy (+3.7%) and REIT (+0.9%) sectors outperformed the negative broader market.
On the overseas market, the stockbroking firm said that Wall Street turned choppy as the Dow (-3.1%) erased all its previous session gains on rising concerns over the prospects of stagflation, coupled with disappointing earnings from Etsy, Shopify, and Ebay. “The European stock markets ended mostly lower, but Asia stock markets finished mixed,” it said.
