KUALA LUMPUR – The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased earlier losses to finish marginally higher as bargain hunting emerged during late trading, amid the mixed performance by regional peers.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI went up 0.58 of-a-point to end at an intraday high of 1,475.17 compared with Friday’s close of 1,474.59.

The key index opened 0.13 points better at 1,474.72 and hit a low of 1,469.26 before the midday break.

However, the market breadth remained negative as decliners thumped gainers 590 to 350, while 371 counters were unchanged, 864 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 3.69 billion units worth RM2.05 billion against Friday’s 4.08 billion units worth RM2.5 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices ended mostly lower ahead of a week of crucial economic data releases, including the US consumer price index that will determine the Federal Reserve’s path forward.

Additionally, the choppy trading on Wall Street reflected the lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week’s closely watched inflation data.

“As for the local bourse, we maintain our view that the outlook of Malaysian equities will remain stable in the medium term given their attractive valuations, stronger corporate earnings and improving economic conditions locally,” he told Bernama.

Nonetheless, Thong reckoned that investor sentiment will remain soft for the time being due to external factors.

“Hence, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend sideways slightly biased towards positive, within the 1,470-1,490 range for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,500 and support at 1,460,” he added.

Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank gained 2.0 sen to RM8.77, CIMB added 7.0 sen to RM5.44, Tenaga Nasional rose 14 sen to RM9.91, while Public Bank lost 1.0 sen to RM4.19 and Petronas Chemicals slid 17 sen to RM8.08.

As for active stocks, Sapura Energy went up 1.0 sen to 5.5 sen, Vinvest increased by 2.5 sen to 23.5 sen, while MYEG and Velesto slipped half-a-sen each to 60.5 sen and 23.5 sen, respectively, and Zen Tech shed 1.0 sen to 2.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 6.27 points to 10,733.77, the FBMT 100 Index slid 2.16 points to 10,403.57, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 25.14 points to 11,021.27, the FBM 70 Index dwindled 29.55 points to 13,540.43 and the FBM ACE Index was 68.64 points lower at 5,675.36.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index rose 1.66 points to 898.03 and the Financial Services Index ticked up 37.59 points to 16,150.96. The Plantation Index edged down 47.78 points to 6,838.87 while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased by 2.15 points to 188.0.

The Main Market volume declined to 2.11 billion shares worth RM1.65 billion compared with Friday’s 2.64 billion shares worth RM2.05 billion.

Warrants turnover narrowed to 414.75 million units worth RM53.41 million from 425.55 million units worth RM49.88 million last Friday.

The ACE Market volume increased to 1.17 billion shares worth RM338.11 million from 1.11 billion shares worth RM398.66 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 221.06 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (537.24 million); construction (128.63 million); technology (398.89 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (63.07 million); property (174.84 million); plantation (41.31 million); REITs (9.64 million), closed/fund (nil); energy (391.91 million); healthcare (63.90 million); telecommunications and media (18.74 million); transportation and logistics (46.25 million); and utilities (14.19 million). – Bernama