KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Bursa Malaysia turned marginally lower at mid-morning as investor sentiment turned tepid, given the prevailing uncertainties, coupled with the lack of fresh leads.

At 11.01am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 0.86 of-a-point to 1,601.54 after breaching the 1,600-level at 1,602.40 points yesterday.

The index was 5.46 points better at 1,607.86 at 9am.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 474 to 350, while 445 counters were unchanged, 963 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 2.47 billion shares worth RM1.11 billion.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI managed to stage a recovery earlier despite the weaker-than-expected inflation data.

However, the firm remains cautious on the possible extended gains, given the prevailing uncertainties, coupled with the lack of fresh leads.

"Nevertheless, we think bargain-hunting activities may emerge on selected beaten-down stocks as investors’ risk appetite remains strong within the equities market as defined by the surge in the recent oversubscription rates of initial public offerings.

Meanwhile, the rebound in crude oil prices may provide further alleviation to the market sentiment.

As for sector in focus, the recovery-theme play may resume over the foreseeable future on the positive developments over the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in Malaysia.

"Also, the oil and gas counters may gain traction, following the surge in crude oil prices. Amid the recent volatility, the utilities sector that is defensive in nature appears to be relatively attractive,” it added.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and IHH were flat at RM8.24 and RM5.34, respectively, PBBank earned one sen at RM4.19, PChem gained three sen to RM8.10, while Tenaga lost two sen to RM10.80. 

As for the active counters, BJCorp added 3.5 sen to 32.5 sen, DNex was flat at 98 sen, Saudee improved one sen to 61 sen, while Kanger and Yongtai both lost half-a-sen to eight sen and 26.5 sen, respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 0.02 of-a-point to 11,753.81, the FBM Emas Shariah advanced 3.85 points to 13,067.19, and the FBM 70 increased 17.19 points to 15,464.56.

However, the FBMT 100 eased 1.24 points to 11,428.20 and the FBM ACE dropped 9.75 points to 10,429.11.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eked up 1.43 points to 15,268.20, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.03 points to 192.15, while the Plantation Index went down 3.82 points to 7,159.23. — Bernama