KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Last-minute buying pushed shares prices into the positive territory at the close on Bursa Malaysia today, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI finished at 1,734.24, up 0.36 of a point, after moving between 1,724.50 and 1,738.09 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 459 to 259, with 298 counters unchanged, 747 untraded and 13 others were suspended.

Total volume eased to 1.45 billion units, worth RM1.39 billion, from yesterday’s 1.46 billion units valued at RM1.85 billion.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President and Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan, however, expected the FBMKLCI to ease to the next support level of 1,700.

“Since we expect possible profit taking by investors after a three-day rally streak, the local bourse should find support at 1,700 and 1,680 in the near term,” he told Bernama.

Nazri viewed the recent sharp gain as a temporary relief as two major catalysts were still keeping investors jittery and on the sidelines, namely Greece’s exit (Grexit) from the Eurozone and the three-day US Federal Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC) beginning on Monday which may decide on raising interest rates.

Of heavyweights, Digi gained 5 sen to RM5.53, Genting added 7 sen to RM8.28, Petronas Dagangan increased 24 sen to RM20.80 and Genting Malaysia inched up 4 sen to RM4.24.

Top gainers British American Tobacco increased 48 sen to RM64.48, Dutch Lady rose 26 sen to RM45.76, Petronas Dagangan gained 24 sen to RM20.80 and Lafarge garnered 21 sen to RM8.96.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index decreased 12.46 points to 11,958.45, FBMT100 Index shed 7.54 points to 11,644.80, FBM Emas Syariah contracted 11.60 points to 12,431.07 and the FBM 70 dropped 45.16 points to 12,936.41. The FBM Ace fell 37.70 points to 6,293.80.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index reduced 60.83 points to 15,599.39, Plantation Index gained 10.80 points to 7,461.84 and the Industrial Index was lower 6.84 points to 3,202.74.

Main Market volume decreased to 776.91 million shares, worth 1.22 billion, from 895.17 million shares, worth RM1.67 billion, yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market eased to 290.64 million units, valued at RM684.29 million, from 272.98 million units, valued at RM96.21 million, yesterday. Warrants fell to 388.01 million shares worth, RM104.69 million, from 288.46 million shares, worth RM79.24 million, previously.

Consumer products accounted for 86.01 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (126.08 million), construction (90.90 million), trade and services (326.23 million), technology (38.73 million), infrastructure (93.99 million), SPAC (14.40 million), finance (22.19 million), hotels (562,300 million), properties (31.36 million), plantations (98.55 million), mining (0), REITs (20.95 million) and closed/fund (243,500 million). — Bernama