KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Bursa Malaysia pared earlier losses to end marginally lower today as bargain hunting emerged in selected heavyweight counters during the final hour of trading, in line with Wall Street’s fall overnight and a mixed regional performance.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 0.52 of a point to 1,434.22 from yesterday's close of 1,434.74.
The barometer index opened 0.87 points lower at 1,433.87 and moved between 1,430.89 and 1,435.01 throughout the day.
Gains by Tenaga Nasional helped lift the key index by 1.334 points.
The market breadth was negative as decliners surpassed gainers 443 to 429, while 427 counters were unchanged, 976 untraded and 29 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 3.07 billion units worth RM2.03 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said regional indices were mostly in the red following negative cues from Wall Street overnight after US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials warned of a mild recession in the United States this year.
“After the (cooling) in the US Consumer Price Index data, the market was expecting the Fed's interest rate cycle to ease off but instead the focus shifted to the Fed’s warning (of a mild recession),” he told Bernama.
The FBM KLCI is expected to trend within the range of 1,430-1,440 towards the weekend, he said.
Among the heavyweight counters, Public Bank was down by three sen to RM3.99, CIMB slipped four sen to RM5.20 and CelcomDigi edged down one sen to RM4.39.
Maybank climbed up one sen to RM7.41 and Petronas Chemicals rose 10 sen to RM7.40.
Among the actives, My EG rallied 10.5 sen to 87.5 sen, Top Glove put on three sen to RM1.15 while BSL Corp, Hong Seng and Jade Marvel were all flat each at five sen, 13 sen, and 30 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 15.46 points to 10,571.42, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 17.07 points to 10,251.65 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 37.31 points to 10,940.28.
The FBM ACE Index was 60.29 points higher at 5,369.19 and the FBM 70 index climbed up 108.97 points to 13,923.84.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index garnered 2.36 points to 15,787.28, the Energy Index added 3.76 points to 886.32 and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.28 of-a-point to 175.49.
The Plantation Index improved by 19.37 points to 6,877.34.
The Main Market volume climbed to 2.15 billion units worth RM1.77 billion from 1.90 billion units worth RM1.56 billion on Wednesday.
Warrant turnover strengthened to 334.62 million units worth RM53.38 million against 316.66 million units worth RM44.99 million previously.
The ACE Market volume advanced to 576.09 million shares worth RM204.63 million versus 574.44 million shares worth RM176.68 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 300.13 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (533.71 million); construction (70.53 million); technology (529.11 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (68.70 million); property (194.36 million); plantation (24.56 million); REITs (6.65 million), closed/fund (75.40); energy (141.21 million); healthcare (124.01 million); telecommunications and media (59.32 million); transportation and logistics (69.58 million); and utilities (36.34 million). — Bernama