Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets advanced further, led by China and Hong Kong, on optimism over potential US-China trade discussions, and the release of upbeat Chinese services activity data.
“With the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) having recovered over 80 points since the onset of US trade tensions, we view this pause as a healthy correction, allowing the market to consolidate recent gains before resuming its uptrend.
“We maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook on the local market, supported by Malaysia’s improving economic prospects, which are driven by resilient consumer demand, sectoral recovery, and continued government support measures.
“As such, we maintain our weekly FBM KLCI target at between 1,525 and 1,555,” Thong told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI declined by 0.18%, or 2.74 points, to 1,536.80 from yesterday’s close of 1,539.54.
CIMB and Petronas Chemicals were the top two contributors to the benchmark index’s decline, falling 18 sen to RM6.90 and 15 sen to RM3.30, respectively, with a combined negative contribution of 5.36 points.
The market bellwether opened 1.10 points better at 1,540.64 and moved between 1,533.15 and 1,544.98 throughout the trading session.
In the broader market, losers trounced gainers 540 to 367, while 492 counters were unchanged, 936 untraded, and 17 suspended.
Turnover increased to 2.79 billion units worth RM1.88 billion against yesterday’s 2.34 billion units valued at RM2.08 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM9.96, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.47 and RM7, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional rose 26 sen to RM14.06, and CelcomDigi perked up one sen to RM3.79.
For active stocks, Reach Ten went up 2.5 sen to 56 sen, Permaju earned 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen, MrDIY gained seven sen to RM1.74, while Ekovest eased 0.5 sen to 32.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 27.71 points lower at 11,413.47, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 27.61 points to 11,187.65, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index perked up 7.72 points to 11,311.21.
The FBM 70 Index slumped 70.26 points to 16,062.23, and the FBM ACE Index improved 13.71 points to 4,638.77.
Across sectors, the financial services index tumbled 146.98 points to 18,129.19, the industrial products and services index dipped 1.31 points to 150.48, the energy index shed 4.09 points to 678.62, while the plantation index advanced 36.34 points to 7,284.96.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.22 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion against yesterday’s 1.51 billion units worth RM1.91 billion.
Warrants turnover surged to 1.22 billion units worth RM157.38 million from 373.95 million units valued at RM22.31 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 346.85 million units valued at RM103.09 million compared with 454.30 million units worth RM139.10 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 227.61 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (162.51 million), construction (91.44 million), technology (138.81 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (52.74 million), property (198.69 million), plantation (13.19 million), REITs (14.65 million), closed/fund (17,200), energy (112.90 million), healthcare (57.43 million), telecommunications and media (69.44 million), transportation and logistics (36.82 million), utilities (46.71 million), and business trusts (7,000).