Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher but turned lower later, driven by cautious sentiment following the mixed performance of Wall Street last Friday.
At 2.50pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 7.94 points (0.50%) to 1,584.02 from 1,591.60 last Friday.
The market's benchmark index opened 0.88 points higher at 1,592.48.
The market sentiment was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers by 185 to 108 while 315 counters were unchanged, 1,700 were untraded and 10 others were suspended.
Total trading volume was 197.34 million units worth RM80.68 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng, expects the FBM KLCI index to trade in the range of 1,585 to 1,595 today.
He said indications from Wall Street were mixed as traders chose to ignore the lower-than-expected US (US) retail sales data for January, which showed consumers were starting to cut back on spending.
The US market will be closed today in conjunction with the President's Day public holiday.
Thong said the focus is now on a meeting of Chinese technology giants in Beijing today to discuss industry trends, government policies and potential collaborations.
Among heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM10.52, Public Bank fell three sen to RM4.46 and Tenaga Nasional fell two sen to RM13.88 while CIMB and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.35 and RM7.27, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 23.69 points to 12,082.92, the FBMT 100 Index declined 24.77 points to 11,789.18 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 13.38 points to 11,834.13.
The Financial Services Index declined 69.08 points to 19,273.56 and the Energy Index decreased 2.37 points to 796.18.
