KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower at midday as investors maintained a cautious stance.
The key index slipped to close at 1,456.85 points.
At mid-day break, losers lead gainers, 448 to 240 while 416 counters remained unchanged.
At 12.30pm, all other indexes were also in the red as FBM100 fell by 38.530 to 10,377.13, FBMEMAS down by 39.020 to 10,680.68, FBMHIJRA slipped by 56.840 to 11,710.65 and FBMACE declined by 25.350 to 11,710.65.
Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) said the benchmark could face resistance at 1,472 and 1,494 levels in anticipation of the "status quo" election outcome.
Despite the downward trend for the morning trading session, the firm said, the KLCI's upward trajectory may continue along with a favourable polls outcome as the key index may revisit 1,505, 1,517 and 1,533 levels.
This is also supported by political risk premium allevation, record low foreign shareholding at 19.7 per cent in July 2023 and a resumption of foreign net inflows in July of RM1.1 billion and Aug of RM143 million after net selling RM8bn from Sep 2022 to June 2023.
Additionally, the sentiment is also swayed by the unveiling of high-impact investment initiatives to boost the domestic economy through the Madani economy framework and the NETR.
"Conversely, any unfavourable outcome may trigger knee-jerk selldown at 1,437-1,420-1,400 zones," it said.
