The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed the day at 1,425.19 points, 3.08 points up from last Thursday’s close of 1,422.11.
The index had begun the day at 1,422.27 points, just 0.16 of a point above Thursday’s close. It moved between 1,420.84 and 1,427.00 points throughout the day.
However, the market breadth was negative, with decliners outnumbering gainers 562 to 329, while 387 counters were unchanged, 1,020 were not traded and 19 others were suspended.
Turnover went up to 2.56 billion units valued at RM1.54 billion from 2.46 billion units valued at RM1.46 billion on Thursday.
Plantation stocks rose as investors reacted positively to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Malaysia and China on the trade of palm oil.
The deal between the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and the China Chamber of Commerce of Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products (CFNA) will strengthen Malaysia’s position and market share in the Chinese market.
The MPOB said this would lead to an increase in the export of palm oil and palm-based products to China this year.
Elsewhere in the market, the technology sector took a beating from heavy selling amid concerns over a slowdown in earnings.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investors also feared that increased interest rates and tightening economic conditions would have a negative impact on earnings broadly.
He expects the local bourse to see muted trading this week given the Hari Raya mood.
“Nonetheless, investors are alert on bargain hunting opportunities given the cheap valuations of the benchmark index,” he told Bernama.
As such, Thong said, Rakuten Trade anticipates the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,420 to 1,435 range for the week.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank eased five sen to RM8.65 while CIMB was three sen lower at RM5.16. Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM3.93 and RM7.20 respectively.
CelcomDigi and Tenaga Nasional gained three sen each to RM4.41 and RM8.93.
As for the actives, Jade Marvel fell a sen to 26.5 sen, Salutica rose 23.5 sen to RM1.05 and SMRT inched up half a sen to 67 sen, while BSL was flat at five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 12.14 points to 10,463.10, the FBMT 100 Index was 13.74 points higher at 10,149.45, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 31.21 points to 10,806.53.
The FBM ACE Index was 23.85 points lower at 5,319.64 and the FBM 70 Index fell 15.60 points to 13,629.61.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index shaved 1.20 points to 171.96, the financial services index shrank 42.02 points to 15,623.84 while the plantation index climbed 95.09 points to 6,928.61.
The Main Market volume slid to 1.72 billion units valued at RM1.30 billion from 1.76 billion units valued at RM1.25 billion last Thursday.
Warrants turnover rose to 330.86 million units worth RM46.15 million against 226.20 million units worth RM27.28 million previously.
The ACE Market volume increased to 517.91 million shares worth RM197.01 million versus 463.53 million shares worth RM186.69 million last Thursday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 302.32 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (568.18 million); construction (33.62 million); technology (194.27 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (54.16 million); property (130.39 million); plantation (20.41 million); REITs (4.79 million), closed/fund (69,300); energy (112.20 million); healthcare (150.66 million); telecommunications and media (51.68 million); transportation and logistics (33.04 million); and utilities (61.26 million).
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed on Friday (April 21) and Monday (April 24) in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.