At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), which opened 3.48 points lower at 1,664.92, finished at 1,670.84, up 2.44 points or 0.146 per cent, from Friday’s close of 1,668.4.     It moved between 1,662.94 and 1,671.87 throughout the day.     Maxis rose 15 sen to RM6.20 while Axiata and Genting improved 10 sen each to RM5.80 and RM8.86 respectively. Mercury Securities Head of Research Edmund Tham said the market saw mild activity due to the lack of strong catalysts. Another analyst said today’s local market sentiment was in line with regional peers, with South Korea’s benchmark Kospi gaining 0.19 per cent to 2,021.11 while Singapore’s Straits Times was 0.12 per cent higher at 2,928.76 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.66 per cent to 21,803.18. The analyst also said that new mega transportation project rollouts in Malaysia by the government soon will impact the local bourse positively. On the broader market, gainers led losers 401 to 392, with 353 counters unchanged, 574 untraded and 45 others suspended.     Total volume declined to 1.69 billion units worth RM1.65 billion from Friday’s 1.89 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat RM8.17, TNB increased two sen to RM14.32 while Public Bank went down two sen to RM19.40, IHH Healthcare eased one sen to RM6.64 and Petronas Chemicals slid 17 sen to RM6.52.     Among actives, EA Holdings decreased two sen to 7.5 sen, Borneo Oil and AirAsia X were half-a-sen lower at 18 sen and 39.5 sen respectively, FGV expanded 12 sen to RM1.67 and IFCA MSC added two sen to 59 sen. Main Market turnover fell to 1.10 billion units worth RM1.54 billion from Friday’s 1.16 billion units worth RM1.78 billion. ACE Market volume narrowed to 329.40 million shares valued at RM63.59 million from 457.85 million shares valued at RM87.59 million previously. Warrants slid to 263.61 million units worth RM38.43 million from 269.35 million units worth RM39.65 million on Friday. Consumer products accounted for 61.97 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (268.23 million), construction (50.71 million), trade and services (458.43 million), technology (82.17 million), infrastructure (9.67 million), SPAC (19.78 million), finance (30.24 million), hotels (157,400), properties (71.45 million), plantations (41.77 million), mining (nil), REITs (9.75 million) and closed/fund (13,200). — Bernama