KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today, amidst cautious trading ahead of the Budget 2022 announcement on Friday.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched down 0.14 of-a-point to 1,587.94 from Friday’s close of 1,588.08.

The market bellwether opened 1.31 points easier at 1,586.77, and fluctuated between 1,586.77 and 1,593.37 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 567 to 457, while 438 counters were unchanged, 828 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 3.88 billion units valued at RM2.46 billion from last Friday’s 3.07 billion units valued at RM2.18 billion. 

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s Equity Research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng said despite positive foreign inflows, trading on Bursa Malaysia is likely to remain cautious as many are curious if there is enough impetus to revive the nation’s economy ahead of Budget 2022.

"Hence, we expect the index to hover in the 1,590-1,600 range for the rest of the week.

"From the technical point of view, we see immediate resistance at 1,615, with immediate support at 1,565,” he told Bernama.

Of the heavyweights, both Public Bank and CIMB added one sen to RM4.24 and RM5.24, respectively, while Maybank and TNB were flat at RM8.15 and RM9.76, respectively.

Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM8.80, IHH Healthcare trimmed five sen to RM6.55 and Axiata declined three sen to RM3.97.  

As for the actives, Dagang Nexchange rose 1.5 sen to 77 sen and Fitters increased two sen to 43.5 sen,  while Kanger was flat at five sen, AT Systematization and Metronic both inched down half-a-sen to 5.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively, and LKL eased one sen to 12.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 6.49 points to 11,702.91, the FBMT 100 Index fell 2.34 points to 11,337.45, the FBM 70 slipped 8.37 points to 15,368.26, the FBM ACE gave up 13.40 points to 7,157.48, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 14.28 points easier at 12,774.82.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 26.89 points to 15,744.94, and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 0.79 of-a-point to 210.53, while the Plantation Index went down 14.27 points to 7,007.67.

The Main Market volume went up to 2.59 billion shares worth RM2.05 billion from 2.15 billion shares worth RM1.87 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 288.05 million units worth RM44.24 million from 317.64 million units worth RM47.09 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market jumped to 990.06 million shares valued at RM371.81 million from 598.61 million shares valued at RM259.99 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 344.25 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.06 million), construction (142.45 million), technology (467.59 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (44.05 million), property (131.44 million), plantation (32.54 million), REITs (6.85 million), closed/fund (19,300), energy (210.27 million), healthcare (45.12 million), telecommunications and media (26.71 million), transportation and logistics (72.46 million), and utilities (11.11 million). — Bernama