Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional markets closed mostly higher, driven by optimism over a potential trade agreement between the US and China.
He said that president Donald Trump noted that the US was close to sealing a trade deal with China and mentioned he would meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, before the end of the year if an agreement is concluded.
“Additionally, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) once again tested the 1,540-resistance level. Failure to breach this level may result in continued range-bound trading and a possible retracement to 1,520.
“As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,520-1,550 for the rest of the week,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 2.84 points or 0.19% to close at 1,541.48 from yesterday’s close of 1,538.64.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.72 of-a-point lower at 1,537.92, moved between 1,533.06 and 1,542.89 throughout the trading session.
However, the broader market was negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 626 to 353, while 489 counters were unchanged, 1,034 untraded and 7 suspended.
Turnover decreased to 2.51 billion units worth RM2.38 billion from 2.87 billion units worth RM2.75 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost 3 sen to RM9.63, Tenaga Nasional was 10 sen lower at RM13.18, while Public Bank and CIMB garnered 6 sen each to RM4.30 and RM6.81, respectively, and IHH Healthcare advanced 10 sen to RM6.95.
Of the most active counters, NexG was flat at 53.5 sen, Inari Amertron erased 11 sen to RM1.86, Tanco shaved 3.5 sen to 78 sen, Top Glove inched down 2 sen to 61.5 sen, while Ekovest edged up 0.5 sen to 43 sen.
Across the broader market, the FBM Emas Index dipped 9.07 points to 11,532.90, the FBMT 100 Index shed 2.80 points to 11,303.86, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 32.41 points to 11,536.59.
The FBM 70 Index declined 107.69 points to 16,559.06 while the FBM ACE Index slid 30.57 points to 4,600.89.
By sector, the financial services index soared 94.18 points to 17,542.64, while the industrial products and services index was 1.64 points lower at 157.76, the energy index eased 2.78 points to 737.62, and the plantation index slipped 15.64 points to 7,347.71.
The Main Market volume declined to 1.49 billion units valued at RM2.17 billion from 1.87 billion units valued at RM2.52 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover rose to 751.14 million units worth RM107.82 million from 703.81 million units worth RM96.19 million previously.
The ACE Market volume fell to 274.30 million units worth RM102.55 million from 300.21 million units worth RM137.66 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 205.77 million shares traded on the Main Market; industrial products and services (216.46 million), construction (115.87 million), technology (302.44 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (113.25 million), property (146.76 million), plantation (14.26 million), REITs (20.12 million), closed-end fund (6,200), energy (88.11 million), healthcare (154.56 million), telecommunications and media (33.99 million), transportation and logistics (31.03 million), utilities (44.67 million), and business trusts (36,500).