At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.75 points to 1,745.31 from Friday’s close of 1,748.06.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the market remains cautious due to renewed tensions in Middle East after the US president Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal, which pushed oil prices higher once again.
He said elevated crude oil prices and lingering geopolitical uncertainties are likely to keep investor sentiment somewhat restrained in the near- term.
Nevertheless, the recent pullback appears to be largely driven by profit-taking rather than aggressive selling, suggesting that underlying buying interest remains intact.
“Persistent foreign participation and improving regional sentiment may continue to provide support to the local market, particularly in selected blue-chip and defensive counters.
“Looking ahead, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade in a cautious but mildly positive manner, with selective accumulation likely to emerge on weakness,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan said despite the broader weakness in blue-chip stocks, buying interest in selected infrastructure, construction and industrial-related counters helped limit further downside.
Across the region, he said Asian markets closed mixed as investors remained cautious ahead of Trump’s visit to China later this week, with markets closely monitoring potential developments surrounding trade negotiations and broader geopolitical tensions.
“External uncertainties and elevated global yields continued to weigh on investor sentiment, although domestic institutional support and optimism surrounding infrastructure-linked sectors helped provide some stability to Bursa despite the benchmark index’s decline,” he added.
The benchmark index, which opened 5.94 points firmer at 1,754.00 moved between 1,744.99 and 1,754.00 during the trading session.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 562 to 558. A total of 636 counters were unchanged, 897 untraded, and 12 suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.20 billion units worth RM3.17 billion compared with 3.31 billion units worth RM3 billion on Friday.
Among heavyweights, Press Metal rose 12 sen to RM8.80, YTL Corporation added six sen to RM2.32, CIMB was flat at RM7.93, MR DIY fell 1.0 sen to RM1.65, while Telekom Malaysia slipped two sen to RM7.61.
On the most active list, Top Glove rose 9.5 sen to 85.5 sen, Zetrix AI shed 1.5 sen to 85.5 sen, SMRT was seven sen firmer at 28 sen, Oppstar soared 30 sen to 68 sen, and VS Industry perked up 1.5 sen to 21 sen.
Among the top gainers, Dutch Lady advanced 22 sen to RM33.02, KPJ Healthcare put on 13 sen to RM3.49, TT Vision surged 12 sen to 33 sen, while Timberwell and MI Technovation garnered 11 sen each to RM1.50 and RM3.80, respectively.
The top losers included Nestle, which lost RM1.40 to RM101.20, Petronas Dagangan decreased 48 sen to RM20.58, United Plantations and Hong Leong Bank slid 28 sen to RM30.52 and RM22.34, respectively, and Hong Leong Industries slipped 26 sen to RM18.90.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index edged up 1.36 points to 12,931.60, the FBMT 100 Index declined 1.58 points to 12,770.95, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 5.83 points to 12,844.14, the FBM ACE Index leapt 64.48 points to 4,675.80, while the FBM Mid 70 Index increased 77.24 points to 18,561.46.
By sector, the financial services index dropped 67.63 points to 20,306.18 and the plantation index eased 0.33 of-a-point to 8,838.08. The industrial products and services index rose 1.11 points to 195.76 and the energy index shed 5.13 points to 807.18.
The Main Market volume expanded to 2.45 billion units valued at RM2.80 billion from 1.73 billion units valued at RM2.72 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 1.05 billion units worth RM144.27 million from 1.18 billion units worth RM152.99 million previously.
The ACE Market volume surged to 690.15 million units valued at RM227.39 million from 392.80 million units valued at RM132.83 million last Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 193.10 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (424.87 million), construction (196.03 million), technology (467.92 million), financial services (64.44 million), property (228.42 million), plantation (26.33 million), real estate investment trusts (27.14 million), closed-end fund (5,000), energy (131.90 million), healthcare (469.27 million), telecommunications and media (118.79 million), transportation and logistics (55.49 million), utilities (51.31 million), and business trusts (136,000).