Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said trading activities remained muted last week as seen from the weak daily volume, which dwindled to below the two billion shares mark.
“This could be attributed to the widespread downgrades of the benchmark index target for 2025 by the research fraternity recently,” he said in a research note today.
Thong also said that the broker firm expects the index to hover within the 1,510-1,520 level today.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 2.58 points to 1,519.37 from Friday’s close of 1,516.79.
The benchmark index opened at 1,518.06, higher by 1.27 points.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 175 to 76. A total of 236 counters were unchanged, 1,873 untraded and 20 suspended.
Turnover stood at 93.49 million units, valued at RM63.13 million.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd said last week’s local market performance was in tandem with the mixed regional markets and persistent foreign net outflows, which saw KLCI losing 1.3 points to 1,516.8, after rising 14.8 points in two days.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 1 sen to RM9.71, Tenaga Nasional rose 4 sen to RM14.24, Public Bank and CIMB were both flat at RM4.26 and RM6.84, respectively, while QL Resources was 7 sen better at RM4.44, and Sunway earned 4 sen to RM4.84.
Among the most active stocks, Hartanah Kenyalang improved 0.5 sen to 16.5 sen, MPire accumulated 2 sen to 11 sen, ATA IMS was 1 sen higher at 31.5 sen, and Yinson jumped 8 sen to RM2.42.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 31.70 points to 11,387.04, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 30.60 points to 11,154.30, the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 37.28 points to 11,366.50, while the FBM 70 Index soared 91.37 points to 16,387.95.
However, the FBM ACE Index eased 6.06 points to 4,513.26.
Sector-wise, the financial services index ticked up 20.74 points to 17,729.05, the energy index increased 6.85 points to 725.30, but the industrial products and services index was down 0.50 of a point to 151.30, and the plantation index shed 0.53 of a point to 7,252.32.