Rakuten Trade vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that key regional indices also traded cautiously, weighed down by overnight losses in US equities as investors await upcoming economic data that could set the tone for the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy direction.
“Fed chair Jerome Powell had struck a cautious tone about further rate cuts, after the central bank delivered the first easing this year just the previous week,” he told Bernama.
Thong said he is still positive on the local market as the underlying sentiment remains resilient.
“The index just needs a stronger catalyst or external boost to regain momentum and attract more active participation from investors.
“Sustaining levels above 1,600 will be crucial in maintaining confidence, and with the right drivers, the market could be well-positioned to extend its upward path in the near term. Hence, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,595-1,610 towards the weekend,” he added.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI eased 1.19 points to close at 1,598.47, compared with yesterday’s close of 1,599.66. The benchmark index opened lower at 1,599.57 and moved between 1,595.04 and 1,600.89 throughout the day.
Nevertheless, the market breadth was positive with 588 gainers versus 472 decliners, while 504 counters were unchanged, 1,099 untraded, and 18 suspended.
Turnover dropped to 3.55 billion units worth RM2.77 billion from 3.62 billion units worth RM2.8 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweight counters, CIMB Group and YTL Corp shed five sen each to RM7.24 and RM2.67 respectively, while Maybank inched down four sen to RM9.79. Public Bank dropped two sen to RM4.28, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings was flat at RM5.84.
In active trade, NexG Bina added one sen to 10 sen, Tanco Holdings rose 0.5 sen to 89 sen, and Bumi Armada gained 1.5 sen to 36 sen. VS Industry went down three sen to 59 sen, and Zetrix AI weakened 0.5 sen to 85.5 sen.
Dutch Lady Milk Industries led the top decliners, going down 24 sen to RM27.06, while Allianz Malaysia lost 22 sen to RM18.50 and Petronas Dagangan erased 18 sen to RM22.12. Malaysian Pacific Industries dipped 16 sen to RM29.60, and LPI Capital lost 14 sen to RM14.10.
Among the top gainers were Malayan Cement, which went up 23 sen to RM6.73, while Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 22 sen to RM20.26 and Farm Fresh added 24 sen to RM2.41. Ajinamoto jumped 18 sen to RM13.82, and Heitech Padu rallied 18 sen to RM1.95.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 1.53 points to 11,940.42, the FBM 100 Index reduced 7.93 points to 11,668.33, and the FBM 70 Index slipped 8.14 points to 16,857.48.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 30.96 points to 12,017.56, and the FBM ACE Index added 88.50 points to 5,151.26.
By sector, the industrial products and services index edged up 0.62 of-a-point to 172.08, the plantation index rose 43.58 points to 7,757.81, and the energy index gained 11.16 points to 779.91. The financial services index fell 51.39 points to 18,031.20.
The Main Market volume advanced to 1.92 billion units, valued at RM2.39 billion, from 1.91 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover slipped to 913.14 million units, valued at RM139.76 million, from 1.12 billion units valued at RM163.18 million previously.
The ACE Market volume strengthened to 713.16 million shares worth RM227.36 million, from 574.71 million shares worth RM184.69 million on Wednesday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 395.54 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (381.03 million), construction (134.01 million), technology (238.59 million), financial services (80.87 million), property (237.17 million), plantation (29.67 million), REITs (22.83 million), closed/fund (1.18 million), energy (172.76 million), healthcare (106.58 million), telecommunications and media (30.3 million), transportation and logistics (38.68 million), utilities (47.2 million), and business trusts (29,500).