KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed mixed in cautious trading today with the composite index ending in the positive territory supported by buying interest in selected heavyweights, dealers said. 

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI closed 0.82 of a point better at 1,818.39, after moving between 1,814.86 and 1,821.14 throughout the day.

Total volume fell to 1.757 billion shares, valued at RM1.363 billion, from 1.759 billion shares, valued at RM1.418 billion, recorded last Friday.

Losers outpaced gainers 449 to 320, while 297 counters were unchanged, 574 untraded and 30 others were suspended.

Mercury Securities Head of Research Edmund Tham said activity was subdued as investors were still looking for fresh catalyst before participating actively in the market.

“Market sentiment was mixed with most market players on the sidelines waiting for a clear direction after the announcement of the 2014 Budget on Friday,” he told Bernama.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index decreased 11.68 points to 16,843.12, the Plantation Index slipped 40.65 points to 8,501.11 but the Industrial Index added 14.16 points to 3,142.07.

The FBM Emas Index declined 5.88 points to 12,630.54, FBMT100 Index lost 4.6 points to 12,359.07, the FBM 70 Index fell 47.3 points to 14,321.55 and the FBM ACE Index gained 74.18 points to 5,620.55.

Among actives, Hubline fell half-a-sen to 6.5 sen, Karambunai-WC gained 3.5 sen to four sen and Instacom-WB added three sen to 15 sen.

For heavyweights, Maybank lost two sen to RM9.96, CIMB shed one sen to RM7.64 while Axiata was flat at RM6.91.

Volume on the Main Market improved to 1.364 billion units, valued at RM1.261 billion, from 1.339 billion shares, valued at RM1.342 billion, registered on last Friday.   

Turnover on the ACE market fell to 350.578 million shares, worth RM97.368 million, from 381.112 million shares, worth RM71.578 million, transacted previously.

Warrants increased to 39.994 million units, valued at RM3.573 million, from 36.777 million units, valued at RM3.901 million, recorded on Friday.   

Consumer products accounted for 131.891 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 178.286 million, construction 40.788 million, trade and services 485.866 million, technology 102.663 million, infrastructure 25.837 million, SPAC 17.673 million, finance 26.665 million, hotels 2.114 million, properties 333.036 million, plantations 13.335 million, mining 53,600, REITs 6.231 million and closed/fund 55,300. — Bernama