KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Bursa Malaysia's main index pared its earlier losses to close almost flat on Wednesday, due to lack of buying catalyst amid cautious sentiment on the back of mixed signals from global markets, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.06 of-a-point to 1,429.55 from yesterday's closing of 1,429.61.

The barometer index opened 0.32 of-a-point lower at 1,429.29, and moved between 1,425.71 and 1,430.20 throughout the day.

However, market breadth was positive with gainers leading decliners 396 to 366, while 383 counters were unchanged, 1,071 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 2.33 billion units worth RM1.41 billion from 2.62 billion units worth RM1.73 billion on Tuesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse trended in a narrow and bumpy session with low volume as investors were reluctant to make significant moves.

"While the local benchmark index is still in an oversold position, we advise investors to accumulate on weakness, especially blue-chips stocks.

"Additionally, we expect the overall outlook in the mid-term to be positive, supported by improving economic conditions and corporate earnings," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was unchanged at RM8.66, Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.02, Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM7.25, TNB perked up one sen to RM9.26, while CIMB lost two sen to RM5.31.

As for the actives, Top Glove rose three sen to RM1.01, Revenue added one sen to 26.5 sen, Jade Marvel grew half-a-sen to 31.5 sen, Tanco rose 3.5 sen to 50.5 sen, while Fitters lost half-a-sen 7.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 3.18 points to 10,489.46, the FBMT 100 Index declined 2.45 points to 10,173.55 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 2.54 points to 10,792.07.

The FBM 70 Index shaved off 11.59 points to 13,633.29 and the FBM ACE Index was 7.25 points better at 5,337.18.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 13.06 points to 15,792.56, the Plantation Index gained 24.11 points to 6,731.69, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.40 of-a-point to 172.74 and the Energy Index shed 6.53 points to 869.17.

The Main Market volume fell to 1.74 billion units worth RM1.22 billion against 1.87 billion units worth RM1.49 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover tumbled to 81.67 million units worth RM9.2 million from 245.32 million units worth RM46.46 million previously.

The ACE Market volume slipped to 501.76 million shares worth RM178.31 million from 507.12 million shares worth RM194.12 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 222.52 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (530.17 million); construction (93.71 million); technology (178.11 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (31.17 million); property (229.04 million); plantation (21.56 million); REITs (4.4 million), closed/fund (2,000); energy (129.68 million); healthcare (212.94 million); telecommunications and media (32.85 million); transportation and logistics (28.06 million); and utilities (32.51 million). — Bernama