KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended marginally higher today, lifted by bargain hunting activities among undervalued stocks, said an analyst.

At 5pm, the benchmark index rose 3.29 points to end the day at 1,440.81 from yesterday’s close of 1,437.52.

The benchmark index opened 4.35 points higher at 1,441.87, and moved between 1,435.58 and 1,444.67 throughout the day.

The overall market breadth was negative with losers outnumbering gainers 423 to 373, while 438 counters were unchanged, 995 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 1.99 billion units valued at RM1.21 billion from Monday’s 1.74 billion units valued at RM1.08 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said investors seemed to be reluctant to make more significant moves due to the absence of buying catalysts as the market undertone remains jittery amidst the heightened global market risks and volatility.

"Nevertheless, we believe the market remains oversold, hence providing opportunities for investors to accumulate stocks at attractive levels, given their cheaper valuations.

"As such, we anticipate the index to trend within the range of 1,430-1,460 for the rest of the week, with immediate support at 1,430 and resistance at 1,465,” he told Bernama.

Bursa heavyweights Maybank rose by one sen to RM8.61, Public Bank and CIMB gained two sen each to RM4.41 and RM5.05, respectively, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM9.12, IHH Healthcare fell three sen to RM6.40 and Petronas Gas eased eight sen to RM16.32.

Of the actives, ACE-market debutant Orgabio advanced three sen to 34 sen, Nexgram and Reach Energy were flat at one sen and five sen, respectively, Top Glove shed three sen to 94.5 sen and NWP Holdings edged down half-a-sen to 27 sen.

On the index board, FBM Emas Index widened 17.47 points to 10,243.51, FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 12.36 points to 10,366.13, FBM 70 expanded 13.53 points to 12,307.56, FBM ACE decreased 70.48 points to 4,646.97, and the FBMT 100 Index bagged 20.04 points to 9,994.0.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went up 44.37 points to 16,084.18, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.75 of-a-point to 180.95, and the Plantation Index slid 75.21 points to 6,815.38.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.07 billion shares worth RM984.74 million against yesterday’s 1.04 billion shares worth RM907.02 million.

Warrants’ turnover swelled to 452.94 million units worth RM94.0 million from 371.77 million units worth RM72.25 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume increased to 466.66 million shares worth RM126.58 million from 329.36 million shares worth RM100.21 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 177.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (280.55 million), construction (35.0 million), technology (80.43 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (47.21 million), property (141.10 million), plantation (37.28 million), REITs (2.93 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (133.77 million), healthcare (88.93 million), telecommunications and media (24.62 million), transportation and logistics (13.93 million), and utilities (6.55 million). — Bernama