KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia regained some lost ground earlier to close mixed today as buying support emerged in selected heavyweights, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) perked 0.50 of a point to 1,626.50 after opening 2.67 points weaker at 1,623.33.

It fluctuated between 1,622.25 and 1,629.11 throughout the day.

A dealer said most Asian markets failed to get a clearer direction after mixed signals coming from China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data and better-than-expected Australian economic growth.

He said the regional markets were mixed after reports on China’s manufacturing activity indicated lingering weaknesses in the world’s second-largest economy, while US consumer confidence dropped for a second month.

The FBM Emas Index added 0.76 of a point to 11,391.45, the FBMT100 Index gained 0.78 of a point to 11,085.56 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 11.59 points better at 11,934.23.

The FBM 70 shed 8.24 points to 12,917.27 while the FBM Ace fell 8.29 points to 5,481.50.

The Finance Index dipped 14.56 points to 14,154.57, the Plantation Index decreased 23.25 points to 7,423.67 but the Industrial Index improved 8.89 points to 3,096.16.

Market breadth was slightly negative as losers led gainers 455 to 323 with 351 counters unchanged, 572 untraded and 15 others were suspended.

Volume slipped to 1.35 billion units worth RM1.66 billion, from 2.69 billion units worth RM6.71 billion yesterday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank jumped seven sen to RM8.23, TNB declined two sen to RM13.96, Public Bank lost 20 sen to RM18.92 while IHH Healthcare fell 10 sen to RM6.36.

Among actives, Bumi Armada added 1.5 sen to 66.5 sen, Karambunai earned half-a-sen to five sen, CIMB added one sen to RM4.40 while China Automobile eased half-a-sen to five sen.

Main Market turnover slipped to 888.76 million shares worth RM1.58 billion, from yesterday’s 2.16 billion shares worth RM6.61 billion.

ACE Market volume declined to 298.57 million shares valued at RM55.02 million, from 349.41 million shares valued at RM70.41 million.

Warrants decreased to 145.31 million units worth RM21.78 million, from 160.84 million units worth RM22.04 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 71.30 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (175.59 million), construction (34.64 million), trade and services (355.78 million), technology (23.65 million), infrastructure (17.23 million), SPAC (14.28 million), finance (66.41 million), hotels (346,400), properties (105.67 million), plantations (19.32 million), mining (nil), REITs (4.48 million) and closed/fund (86,200).  — Bernama