At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 0.04%, or half a point to 1,425.18 from Wednesday’s close of 1,425.68.
The barometer index opened at 1,425.58 and moved between 1,424.82 and 1,428.78 throughout the session.
The market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 467 to 310, while 465 counters were unchanged, 991 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 3.39 billion units valued at RM1.62 billion from 2.78 billion units valued at RM1.65 billion on Wednesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said regional bourses closed mostly lower on US banking worries and a mixed Wall Street performance overnight.
He noted that the FBM KLCI ended in negative territory due to selling during the final minutes of trading.
The FBM KLCI was again stuck within a tight consolidation mode due to a lack of fresh catalysts, he added.
“Nonetheless, we reckon the outlook of local equities remains steady due to prevailing cheap valuations while fundamentals of the local economy remain strong.
“Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend higher, within the range of 1,425-1,435 towards the weekend. From a technical point of view, we see the immediate resistance for the FBM KLCI at 1,440, while support is at 1,415,” Thong told Bernama.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank added four sen to RM8.74 and Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.01.
Petronas Chemicals lost 15 sen to RM7.16, CIMB fell seven sen to RM4.95 and IHH Healthcare dropped two sen to RM5.88.
As for the actives, both Vinvest and Eduspec slipped half-a-sen each to 19.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively. Bahvest increased 1.5 sen to 13 sen and Seal went up two sen to 43 sen while Fitters was flat at five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 14.06 points to 10,430.93, the FBMT 100 Index erased 14.82 points to 10,127.52 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 28.64 points to 10,768.55.
The FBM ACE Index slid 15.52 points to 5,026.20, while the FBM 70 Index went down 66.37 points to 13,509.95.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index edged down 1.08 points to 168.47, the energy index eased 1.5 points to 831.81 and the financial services index weakened 9.73 points to 15,588.22.
The plantation index rose 75.79 points to 6,914.31.
The Main Market volume went up to 2.13 billion units valued at RM1.36 billion from 1.87 billion units valued at RM1.44 billion on Wednesday.
Warrant turnover strengthened to 313.53 million units worth RM47.96 million against 278.69 million units worth RM40.22 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume soared to 955.12 million shares valued at RM215.66 million versus 638.24 million shares valued at RM166.15 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 305.49 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.02 billion); construction (45.83 million); technology (154.08 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (68.78 million); property (230.54 million); plantation (36.14 million); REITs (7.94 million), closed/fund (21,100); energy (64.70 million); healthcare (76.64 million); telecommunications and media (62.58 million); transportation and logistics (20.27 million); and utilities (29.73 million).