Berjaya Research Sdn Bhd head of research Kenneth Leong said mild selling pressure in selected banking heavyweight stocks also weighed on the benchmark index.
He reckons that for now, the key index may attempt to build a base at around the 1,600-point psychological level before resuming its recovery path towards the immediate resistance level at 1,611 points, followed by 1,620 points.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) trading below 1,600 had been a “healthy pause”, allowing the market to digest gains and build a stronger base for the next uptrend.
“The overall trend remains constructive, as the shallow pullbacks indicate investors are holding their positions, reflecting underlying market confidence,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI ended at 1,598.23, down 0.70 of-a-point or 0.04% from yesterday’s close of 1,598.93.
The benchmark index opened marginally higher at 1,598.99 and fluctuated between 1,595.68 and 1,600.40 throughout the day.
However, the market breadth was positive, with gainers leading decliners 565 to 492, while 482 counters were unchanged, 1,109 untraded and 13 suspended.
Turnover widened to 3.59 billion units worth RM4.16 billion from 2.56 billion units worth RM2.52 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost eight sen to RM9.80, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.24, and CIMB slipped nine sen to RM7.23. Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM13.38, and IHH added two sen to RM7.33.
In active trade, Focus Dynamics and TWL were 0.5 sen lower at 0.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.
Pharmaniaga erased two sen to 26.5 sen, while VS Industry gained 4.5 sen to 59.5 sen, and Malakoff was flat at 97.5 sen.
Top losers included Nestle, which lost 28 sen to RM94.72, while Hong Leong Financial and Sunway Construction fell 22 sen each to RM16.94 and RM6.13, respectively.
Among the top gainers, MPI surged 58 sen to RM29.12, UWC climbed 37 sen to RM3.70, and Petronas Gas jumped 22 sen to RM18.50.
Sam Engineering bagged 20 sen to RM4.10.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index gained 8.53 points to 11,896.43, the FBMT 100 Index added 7.06 points to 11,647.31, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index bounced 48.27 points to 11,963.37.
The FBM 70 Index climbed 63.66 points to 16,743.40, while the FBM ACE Index was 43.75 points higher at 4,915.43.
By sector, the industrial products and services index picked up 1.42 points to 168.11, the financial services index lost 93.66 points to 18,003.30, and the plantation index increased 11.77 points to 7,744.34. The energy index gained 2.27 points to 755.32.
The Main Market volume increased to 2.32 billion units, valued at RM3.90 billion, from 1.57 billion units worth RM2.26 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover dropped to 637.62 million units, valued at RM93.26 million, from 641.29 million units worth RM107.66 million previously.
The ACE Market volume widened to 626.63 million shares worth RM164.47 million, from 354.4 million shares worth RM145.66 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 275.93 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (377.01 million), construction (151.54 million), technology (237.1 million), financial services (124.51 million), property (341.89 million), plantation (29.96 million), REITs (114.44 million), closed/fund (66,500), energy (137.15 million), healthcare (190.74 million), telecommunications and media (86.35 million), transportation and logistics (94.21 million), utilities (167.49 million), and business trusts (107,000).