At 5pm, the FBM KLCI fell 5.53 points or 0.38% to 1,463.69 from Monday’s close of 1,469.22.

The index, which opened 2.73 points easier at 1,466.49, moved within a narrow range of between 1,459.12 and 1,466.49 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 409 to 390, while 410 counters were unchanged, 1,100 untraded, and 27 others suspended.

Total turnover widened to 2.41 billion units worth RM1.22 billion from 2.01 billion units worth RM1.12 billion on Monday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng however anticipated that foreign funds would continue accumulating local stocks to take advantage of the local market’s relatively cheap valuations against regional peers and the weaker ringgit.

“As such, we foresee the benchmark index to trend slightly higher at the 1,460 to 1,485 range for the remaining week, with immediate resistance at 1,500 and support at 1,460 followed by 1,410,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, key regional indices closed mostly higher on news that new Covid-19 cases in China dropped to the lowest level in more than a week and this boosted the market sentiment, he shared.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.37% to 3,192.12, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 1.67% higher at 20,905.88, China’s SSE Composite Index improved 0.83% to 3,277.44, South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.39% to 2,412.96, while Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.16% to 27,655.21.

Back home, among the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM8.79, while Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals, IHH Healthcare, and CIMB Group gave up two sen each to RM4.60, RM8.62, RM6.43 and RM5.20, respectively.

Of the actives, ACE Market debutant UMediC Group earned 12sen to 44sen, Serba Dinamik gained 2.5sen to 11sen, MyEG Services ticked up 1.5sen to 75.5sen, Bintai Kinden increased one sen to 12sen, while Zen Tech International shed half-a-sen to five sen.