Bursa Malaysia closed lower at midday as investors began to reduce their bets on interest rate cuts ahead of this week's Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting.
At exactly 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.72 points to 1,615.14 from 1,617.86 at Friday's close.
The barometer index opened 1.28 points higher at 1,619.24 and it moved between 1,614.25 to 1,619.24 throughout the session.
However, broad market sentiment was negative as losers outnumbered gainers by 542 to 487. Meanwhile, 441 counters were unchanged, 928 were untraded and 19 others were suspended.
The total turnover was 3.52 billion units worth RM1.68 billion.
According to Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, market sentiment turned negative as the US unemployment rate was higher than expected and employment data improved. This has the potential to delay the expected rate cut earlier.
The firm believes the recent rise in diesel prices may weigh on investor sentiment and limit potential upside in the near term.
In local stocks, overall buying interest may continue in select sectors such as technology sectors related to data centers, AI and cloud services. Their income has recently shown some improvement.
Meanwhile, heavyweight Press Metal Aluminum Holdings Bhd led the laggards after falling 12 sen to RM5.77, while YTL Corp Bhd and Maxis Bhd lost two sen to RM3.63 and RM3.64 respectively.
As for active shares, Hubline Bhd and YNH Property Bhd rose three sen each to 7.0 sen and 67 sen, Talam Transform Bhd and Industronics Bhd were unchanged at 1.5 sen and 4.5 sen respectively.
