KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 — Bursa Malaysia pared most of its earlier losses at the close of trading today amid the ongoing political developments, with key index remaining above the psychological 1,500-point level.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.21 points to end the day at its intraday high of 1,502.90 from Friday’s close of 1,505.11.

The market bellwether, which opened 5.19 points weaker at 1,499.92, fluctuated between 1,493.60 and 1,502.90 throughout the day.

Market breadth remained negative with losers trouncing gainers 633 to 377, while 422 counters were unchanged, 779 untraded, and 19 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 5.03 billion units worth RM2.37 billion from Friday’s 3.56 billion units worth RM2.1 billion.

Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau said the local bourse pared down some of its earlier losses despite some prevailing uncertainties.

"We see the market climbing above 1,500, partly because there are some orderly transition and there is some potential resolution to the current uncertainties. We noticed that the market did not fall as people think it would because of the uncertainties. We might see bargain hunting activities,” he told Bernama.

Earlier today, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong accepted Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation along with his Cabinet. Muhyiddin will now function as a caretaker prime minister until a successor is appointed.

On the local bourse, heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.06, TNB jumped nine sen to RM9.75, Axiata and Maxis were three sen higher at RM3.83 and RM4.39, respectively, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.80, and Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals both slipped one sen to RM3.93 and RM7.95 respectively.

Among the actives, Avillion rose two sen to 21 sen, Advance Synergy edged up half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, both KNM and Malayan United Industries were one sen higher at 22 sen and 9.5 sen, while Fintec Global was flat at 2.5 sen and Dagang NeXchange declined three sen to 75.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 14.61 points easier at 11,000.41, the FBMT 100 Index declined 14.07 points to 10,717.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 10.51 points to 12,080.70, the FBM 70 slipped 12.41 points to 14,478.90, and the FBM ACE dipped 50.56 points to 7,089.22.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI index ended 0.15 per cent lower today, in line with most Asian peers such as South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong that ended in the red on Monday following a slew of Chinese activity for July which all came in below expectations.

"Domestically, the resignation of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin now brings to another question on who will be the next premier. Until such matter is made known, investors will likely remain on the sidelines amid the uncertainty,” he told Bernama.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index improved 33.82 points to 6,247.23, the Financial Services Index went down 51.43 points to 14,731.67, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.09 points to 187.93.

Main Market volume increased to 3.30 billion shares worth RM2.03 billion from Friday’s 2.37 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion.

Warrants turnover eased to 321.58 million units worth RM38.77 million from 327.12 million units worth RM43.61 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 1.25 billion shares worth RM298.03 million from 779.94 million shares worth RM313.11 million on Friday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.34 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (733.65 million), construction (57.53 million), technology (423.66 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (102.86 million), property (203.79 million), plantation (28.59 million), REITs (4.98 million), closed/fund (5,200), energy (264.69 million), healthcare (47.90 million), telecommunications and media (26.91 million), transportation and logistics (57.61 million), and utilities (14.56 million). — Bernama