Bursa malaysia ends mixed in cautious trading
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended mixed in cautious trading as gains in key heavyweights were offset by losses in small-cap stocks.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,765.34, up 0.45 of-a-point from yesterday's close of 1,764.89.
After opening 0.5 of-a-point lower at 1,764.39, the market bellwether moved between 1,762.43 and 1,767.4 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 680 to 235, with 348 counters unchanged, 510 untraded and 42 others suspended.
Volume increased to 2.61 billion units valued at RM2.15 billion, from 2.31 billion units valued at RM1.86 billion recorded yesterday.
A dealer said cautious sentiment continued to cloud the market ahead of the release of several economic data scheduled for this week, namely US jobs data and Malaysia's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI).
"Furthermore, buying support was dampened by US Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams' comments that three interest-rate increases this year make sense as the central bank takes gradual steps to tighten monetary policy and shrink its balance sheet," he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank eased four sen to RM9.36, while Public Bank added four sen to RM20.06, TNB gained six sen to RM13.78, Sime Darby rose one sen to RM9.34 and Petronas Chemicals increased two sen to RM7.27.
Of actives, Hibiscus Petroleum was 5.5 sen higher at 46.5 sen, Luster Industries fell 1.5 sen to 12 sen and AirAsia X declined one sen to 39.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 25.3 points lower at 12,570.9, the FBMT 100 Index shed 20.07 points to 12,213.08 but the FBM Emas Syariah Index added 0.31 of-a-point to 12,849.85.
The FBM Ace fell 48.83 points to 6,219.25 and the FBM 70 decreased 111.67 points to 14,921.71.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index fell 53.45 points to 16,382.68, the Industrial Index increased 13.65 points to 3,260.36 and the Plantation Index was down 40.03 points at 8,010.2.
Main Market turnover improved to 1.76 billion units worth RM2.03 billion from 1.57 billion units worth RM1.74 billion yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 607.09 million units valued at RM99.25 million, from 504.27 million units, valued at RM101.63 million.
Warrants widened to 231.52 million units valued at RM20.82 million from 223.1 million units valued at RM23.4 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 129.83 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (690.76 million), construction (89.72 million), trade and services (89.72 million), technology (515.31 million), infrastructure (9.83 million), SPAC (888,400), finance (73.92 million), hotels (1.25 million), properties (169.5 million), plantations (15.18 million), mining (10,000), REITs (10.53 million), and closed/fund (10,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5.00pm stood at RM168.35 per gramme, down 37 sen from RM168.72 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama