Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said demand in the local bourse was subdued ahead of tomorrow’s state elections, with investors staying on the sidelines to await fresh leads.
Today’s trading was supported by buying in small-capitalisation stocks rather than heavyweights.
“Investors are cautious ahead of the state elections,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.77 points to 1,457.16 from 1,458.93 at yesterday’s close.
The small-capitalisation stocks took the spotlight today, which caused the FBM Small Cap Index to soar 78.56 points to 15,517.9.
The barometer index opened 0.46 of-a-point lower at 1,458.47 and hit a low of 1,449.67 during the early morning session. It managed to reverse the losses briefly in late trading and hit an intraday high of 1,458.97 on mild bargain-hunting.
On the broader market, gainers overwhelmed decliners 502 to 383, while 428 counters were unchanged, 1,006 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Turnover improved to 2.94 billion units worth RM1.86 billion from 2.92 billion units worth RM1.83 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.02, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.16, and Tenaga rose seven sen to RM9.80.
CIMB and CelcomDigi lost five sen each to RM5.61 and RM4.35 respectively, Petronas Chemicals trimmed one sen to RM6.85, while IHH Healthcare shed two sen to RM5.98.
Among the actives, Classita slipped 0.5 sen to nine sen, RGB added one sen to 38 sen, UEM Sunrise bagged two sen to 54.5 sen, while Sapura Energy and KNM Group were flat at six sen and nine sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 6.26 points easier at 10,695.13, the FBMT 100 Index slid 9.58 points to 10,387.3, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 4.95 points to 10,918.71, and the FBM 70 Index slipped 0.06 of-a-point to 13,986.93.
The FBM ACE Index, however, rose 53.43 points to 5,344.15.
Sector-wise, the financial services index gave up 5.85 points to 16,296.98, the plantation index shaved off 10.18 points to 7,087.23, while the industrial products and services index added 0.37 of-a-point to 167.36, and the energy index rose 3.86 points to 831.53.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 2.02 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion from 2.34 billion units valued at RM1.94 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 312.12 million units worth RM49.29 million versus yesterday’s 323.38 million units worth RM48.07 million.
The ACE Market volume expanded to 595.56 million shares valued at RM202.48 million compared with 500.74 million shares valued at RM198.31 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 661.76 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (293.41 million); construction (74.21 million); technology (100.33 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (65.05 million); property (291.64 million); plantation (28.34 million); REITs (11.13 million), closed/fund (130,600); energy (257.63 million); healthcare (79.04 million); telecommunications and media (25.61 million); transportation and logistics (61.52 million); and utilities (72.29 million).