KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to end slightly lower, dragged down by last minute selling of selected heavyweight stocks.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.87 of-a-point to 1,452.68 from Friday’s closing of 1,453.55.
The key index opened 5.22 points better at 1,458.77 and move between 1452.12 to 1460.98 during the trading session.
However the market breadth was positive with advancers outpacing decliners 465 to 380, while 415 counters were unchanged, 959 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 2.84 billion units worth RM1.79 billion from Friday close of 2.69 billion units worth RM1.89 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed flattish after a bumpy trading day as investors were cautious ahead of the MPC meeting this Wednesday and Thursday. Thus he reckoned the indices would remain in consolidation phase over the short term.
“Key regional indices are mostly in positive territory following a positive cue from global equities last Friday amid easing concerns about interest rates following recent comments from Federal Reserve officials and the latest economic data.
“As such, we see the FBM KLCI trending sideways with an upside bias within the 1,450-1,470 range for this week. Technically, we spot the immediate resistance at 1,460 with support at 1,440,” he told Bernama.
Region-wise, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.17 per cent to 20,603.19, Singapore’s Straits Times Index pushed up 0.29 per cent to 3,241.30, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.11 per cent to 28,237.78, and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.26 per cent to 2,462.62.
At home, heavyweight counters Maybank declined two sen to RM8.69, Public Bank was down four sen to RM4.10, Tenaga Nasional lost six sen to RM9.34, Petronas Chemicals went up four sen to RM7.30 while CIMB was flat at RM5.59.
Among the active stocks, Minda advanced 4.5 sen to 13 sen, Velesto Energy added 2.5 sen to 24 sen, MyEG gained 1.5 sen to 75 sen, while Saudee and Vinvest were flat at four sen and 23 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 10.54 points to 10,598.97, the FBM 70 Index garnered 60.42 points to 13,507.03 and the FBM ACE Index grew 50.55 points to 5,477.28.
The FBMT 100 Index advanced 6.08 points to 10,275.84 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 39.42 points to 10,853.46.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index jumped 48.18 points to 6,879.18, the Energy Index earned 18.22 points to 889.95 and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.50 of-a-point to 178.15.
However, the Financial Services Index declined 57.77 points to 16,105.96.
The Main Market volume advanced to 1.98 billion shares worth RM1.47 billion from Friday’s 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion.
Warrants turnover improved to 263.17 million units worth RM44.89 million from 254.87 million units worth RM48.60 million previously.
The ACE Market volume garnered to 595.74 million shares worth RM268.61 million from 479.55 million shares worth RM201.85 million on Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 482.90 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (369.63 million); construction (55.28 million); technology (264.04 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (55.94 million); property (138.11 million); plantation (63.05 million); REITs (8.79 million), closed/fund (1,000); energy (311.92 million); healthcare (115.39 million); telecommunications and media (56.91 million); transportation and logistics (28.19 million); and utilities (26.46 million).
— Bernama
