KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower on Monday, with the benchmark index paring its earlier losses after rebounding strongly from intraday lows amid heavy selling in the morning session.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said market sentiment remained driven by global macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, as investors weighed artificial intelligence’s long-term earnings potential against rising costs, demanding valuations, and the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.83 points to 1,665.91 from Friday’s close of 1,667.74.

The benchmark index opened 1.04 points higher at 1,668.78, slid to an intraday low of 1,655.28 in the mid-morning session before hitting a high of 1,669.21 in late afternoon.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 554 to 481, while 555 counters were unchanged, 1,153 untraded, and 133 suspended.

Turnover dwindled to 2.71 billion units valued at RM2.13 billion against 2.93 billion units valued at RM2.26 billion last Friday.

Mohd Sedek said the benchmark pared much of its earlier losses as bargain hunting emerged in the afternoon, while the broader market painted a more constructive picture. 

“Both the FBM 70 and FBM Small Cap indices closed higher, signalling that investors continued to selectively accumulate fundamentally strong mid- and small-cap stocks despite weakness in the heavyweight index,” he told Bernama.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional markets were mixed as investors weighed West Asia geopolitical risks against renewed trade tensions after China tightened export controls on 20 Japanese companies.

“Despite the cautious environment, the FBM KLCI is nearing oversold levels, which could encourage selective bargain hunting. 

“The recent market correction has improved valuations of many fundamentally sound blue-chip stocks, making them increasingly attractive for longer-term investors,” he said, adding that the FBM KLCI is expected to remain range-bound within a band of 1,660-1,690 points for the week.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM10.80, while Public Bank fell four sen to RM4.79, Tenaga Nasional dropped eight sen to RM14.26, IHH slipped 14 sen to RM8.40, while CIMB increased four sen to RM7.45.

Of the active counters, Zetrix AI was down one sen to 76 sen, Silver Ridge slid 7.5 sen to 11 sen, ACE Market debutant RT Pastry trimmed two sen to 16 sen, Dagang NeXchange was unchanged at 42 sen, and Astro inched up half a sen to 6.5 sen.

On the top gainers list, Malaysian Pacific Industries garnered RM2.10 to RM49.10, Fraser & Neave ticked up 16 sen to RM27.86, Vitrox jumped 29 sen to RM7.53, Petronas Dagangan climbed 22 sen to RM18.82, and Apollo Food surged 15 sen to RM5.85.

As for the top losers, Nestle declined RM2.42 to RM93.42, KL Kepong erased 34 sen to RM20.96, Hong Leong Bank slipped 28 sen to RM21.40, Hartanah Kenyalang tumled 17.5 sen to 55.5 sen, and Petronas Gas lost 14 sen to RM17.40.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index was 14.89 points lower at 12,379.91, the FBM Top 100 Index firmed 11.50 points to 12,213.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 11.22 points to 12,252.52.

The FBM Mid 70 Index rose 122.52 points to 17,848.71 and the FBM ACE Index put on 43.99 points to 4,789.29.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 9.91 points to 19,673.03, the Plantation Index dipped 57.34 points to 8,825.64, the Energy Index bagged 1.60 points to 747.50, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.78 points to 181.37.

The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.33 billion units valued at RM1.86 billion compared with 1.36 billion units valued at RM1.98 billion last Friday.

Warrants turnover declined to 851.04 million units worth RM110.69 million versus 1.04 billion units worth RM125.28 million previously.

The ACE Market volume eased to 526.01 million units valued at RM163.67 million from 530.03 million units valued at RM151.60 million last Friday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 173.40 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (230.01 million), construction (91.80 million), technology (337.25 million), financial services (53.03 million), property (122.65 million), plantation (17.94 million), real estate investment trusts (14.02 million), closed-end fund (1,000), energy (72.27 million), healthcare (84.67 million), telecommunications and media (84.62 million), transportation and logistics (24.80 million), utilities (26.66 million), and business trusts (120,500). — Bernama