KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened flat on Wednesday tracking Wall Street's downtrend which was dragged by the rise in US 10-year yield and expected delay in rate cuts.
At 9.30am, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 0.04 per cent or 0.67 points to 1,547.32 versus Tuesday's close of 1,547.99.
The key index opened 0.7 points lower at at 1,547.29.
The broader market was negative with losers led gainers 324 to 310 while 413 counters were unchanged.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said in a note that despite the US stock markets ending weaker, sentiment on the local front may stay positive with the recovery tone from China's purchasing manager's index coming in at 50.8 (vs forecast of 50.1).
"On the commodity front, Brent oil traded surged another session above US$89 amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, while the crude palm oil futures ended above RM4,380 as demand outweighs supply in the month of March. Meanwhile, the gold price rose to another all-time-high," it said.
The broader market is expected to stay positive for the session and traders could focus on the commodity related stocks within the oil and gas, plantation, and gold sectors, given the stronger tone in their respective underlying commodity prices.
"Meanwhile, we like selected technology stocks as we believe the sequential recovery could be seen in the near term. Besides, catalysts within the data center could bode well for power distribution and cable and network segments," said the firm.
