KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Bursa Malaysia ended marginally higher in range-bound trading today, with last-minute buying in selected heavyweight stocks lifting the barometer index into positive territory.

The local bourse was tracking the mixed performance of its Asian peers today on overnight retracement of US equities and ahead of the decision from US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later today, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.11 of a point to end the day at 1,575.27 from yesterday’s close of 1,575.16.

The index opened 1.10 points higher at 1,576.26 and hovered between 1,570.45 and 1,578.10  throughout the trading session.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing decliners 626 to 415, while 423 counters were unchanged, 437 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 7.60 billion shares worth RM4.71 billion from 9.10 billion shares worth RM6.21 billion yesterday.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia was traded in a narrow range today with profit-taking activities interspersed with buying seen in selected heavyweight stocks led by financial stocks.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said US stocks yesterday took a breather after a rally on the pretext of growing political tensions on the Korean Peninsular and the potential re-emergence of the US-China trade war.

There were some corrections in Asian markets today after a solid run, with the FBM KLCI being one of the best performers in the region, he said.

"However, Bursa’s buying momentum remains strong as any profit-taking has been eradicated from the buying support especially by local institutions and retailers alike. So far, the market undertone remains strong,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei added 0.15 per cent to 23,124.95 and Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.25 per cent to 2,801.02 but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.03 per cent to 25,049.73 .

Among the heavyweights, Tenaga added six sen to RM11.96, Public Bank eased four sen to RM17.34, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM6.90 and IHH Healthcare shed six sen to RM5.57. Maybank was flat at RM8.20.

Of the most actives, AT Systematization added two sen to 12.5 sen, Radiant Globaltech advanced 10.5 sen to 41.5 sen, Lambo Group and XOX edged up half a sen each to 2.5 sen and seven sen, respectively, while Xidelang was flat at 6.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was up 63.88 points at 12,512.56, the FBM 70 jumped 85.48 points to 13,702.73 and the FBM ACE gained 132.64 points to 5,995.55.

The FBM Emas Index was 26.14 points higher at 11,103.52 and the FBMT 100 Index improved 16.56 points to 10,951.25.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.74 of a point to 141.89 and the Plantation Index increased 8.07 points to 6,836.66. However, the Financial Services Index fell 25.89 points to 13,847.36.

Main Market volume fell to 4.38 billion shares worth RM3.84 billion from 5.72 billion shares worth RM5.25 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 515.51 million units valued at RM125.66 million from 742.42 million units worth RM176.19 million.

Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 271.11 million shares worth RM741.39 million from 2.63 billion shares worth RM777.96 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 903.94 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.01 billion), construction (609.31 million), technology (524.16 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (64.28 million), property (305.26 million), plantations (79.31 million), REITs (10.91 million), closed/fund (60,600), energy (467.65 million), healthcare (65.65 million), telecommunications and media (137.16 million), transportation and logistics (153.95 million), and utilities (41.19 million). — Bernama