At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 2.99 points to end at 1,397.62 from last Friday’s close of 1,394.63.
The benchmark index opened 0.93 of a point easier at 1,393.70 and moved between 1,384.82 and 1,401.82 throughout the day.
Market breadth, however, remained negative with losers leading gainers 530 to 285, while 383 counters remained unchanged, 1,155 were not traded, and 31 others suspended.
Total turnover decreased to 1.79 billion units worth RM1.45 billion from 2.08 billion units worth RM1.91 billion last Friday.
“Still, gains were kept in check amid ongoing concerns over rising inflation and tightening of monetary policy,” Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong told Bernama.
“Moving forward, investors will be on the lookout for fresh catalysts from Budget 2023, which is scheduled to be announced on Friday,” he said.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional key indices ended mostly negative, taking the cue from Wall Street’s poor performance last Friday.
“Investors remain wary over rising interest rates, and slowing economic growth across the globe has dented appetite for risk-driven assets.
“As for the local bourse, we reckon the short-term market sentiment will remain jittery amid the uncertain regional performance although bargain hunting may continue as the FBM KLCI remains in an oversold position,” he told Bernama.
Thong anticipated that the FBM KLCI would trend sideways for the week with an uptrend bias in the range of 1,390 to 1,410.
From the technical point of view, he said, the local bourse would see resistance at 1,410 and support at 1,380.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank and Public Bank gained two sen each to RM8.60 and RM4.25, respectively, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.39, and CIMB Bank and IHH Healthcare gave up a sen each to RM5.12 and RM5.89, respectively.
Of the actives, both TWL Holdings and Citaglobal added half-a-sen each to five sen and 24 sen, respectively, Hextar Industries edged up 4.5 sen to 47 sen, Top Glove trimmed three sen to 59.5 sen and PT Resources eased half-a-sen to 45.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 9.46 points to 9,967.40, the FBM 70 dropped 113.02 points to 12,088.79, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 5.74 points to 9,722.96, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 12.93 points to 9,995.10, and the FBM ACE gave up 5.76 points to 4,652.11.
Sector-wise, the energy index was 4.07 points firmer at 674.25, the financial services index improved 20.76 points to 15,943.21 and the plantation index ticked up 35.23 points to 6,508.99, while the industrial products and services index eased by 1.21 points to 168.66.
The Main Market volume slid to 1.11 billion shares worth RM1.21 billion against last Friday’s 1.19 billion shares worth RM1.65 billion.
Warrants turnover dropped to 214.84 million units valued at RM42.82 million from 258.61 million units valued at RM50.33 million previously.
The ACE Market volume shrank to 461.78 million shares worth RM194.78 million from 626.22 million shares worth RM209.75 million last Friday.