Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said trading activities in Malaysia and the region were subdued as China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan markets were closed for holidays.
“Overall sentiment was mixed as traders significantly reduced bets on the US Federal Reserve rate cuts this year due to the country’s tight labour market,” he told Bernama.
Last Friday, the US nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data showed that 272,000 new jobs were created in May, surpassing the consensus projection of 182,000, while the annual wage growth reaccelerated, casting doubt over potential interest rate cuts this week.
All eyes are also on the US inflation figures for May, to be released on the same day as the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on June 12.
In addition, he said the market focus also centred on the eurozone’s broader political concerns following a snap election call in France.
Following the growing global volatility and uncertainty, he said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) may trade within the 1,610-1,630 range for the week.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI fell by 3.49 points to 1,614.37 compared to Friday’s close of 1,617.86, weighed by losses in Press Metal and YTL Corporation.
The barometer index opened 1.38 points higher at 1,619.24, marking its intraday high, and hit a low of 1,613.01 in the mid-afternoon session.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers surpassing decliners 628 to 531, with 470 counters unchanged, 769 untraded, and 19 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 5.96 billion units worth RM3.3 billion from Friday’s 5.73 billion units worth RM4.05 billion.
Heavyweight Press Metal led laggards after slipping 14 sen to RM5.75, likely due to profit-taking following last week’s rally.
YTL Corp dwindled 5 sen to RM3.60, Petronas Dagangan declined 48 sen to RM18.10, KLK trimmed 30 sen to RM20.86, and IOI dropped 4 sen to RM3.86.
As for the actives, Hubline increased 3 sen to 7 sen, JAKS Resources rose 2 sen to 17.5 sen, Talam, Metronic and Industronics were flat at 1.5 sen, 2 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index eased 0.86 of-a-point to 12,356.01, and the FBMT 100 Index decreased by 11.48 points to 11,928.98.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index perked up 8.78 points to 12,662.31, the FBM 70 Index rose 40.69 points to 17,835.57 and the FBM ACE Index climbed 91.77 points to 5,669.09.
Sector-wise, the financial services index improved by 3.88 points to 17,646.15, the energy index gained 13.88 points to 983.11, the industrial products and services index added 0.37 of-a-point to 198.02, while the plantation index slipped by 43.05 points to 7,102.28.
The Main Market volume expanded to 3.96 billion units worth RM2.82 billion from 3.55 billion units worth RM3.47 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover tumbled to 399.07 million units valued at RM46.45 million from 891.7 million units valued at RM124.67 million previously.
The ACE Market volume advanced to 1.6 billion shares worth RM430.22 million from 1.29 billion shares worth RM452.67 million last Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 534.47 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (737.89 million), construction (594.11 million), technology (479.25 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (78.68 million), property (657.7 million), plantation (15.23 million), REITs (18.71 million), closed/fund (11,000), energy (246.12 million), healthcare (54.37 million), telecommunications and media (49.66 million), transportation and logistics (349.37 million), utilities (141.25 million), and business trusts (2.59 million).