KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia traded sideways today on lack of catalysts in line with most regional markets, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI settled at 1,810.11, up 0.39 point, after fluctuating between 1,807.95 and 1,812.59.

Philip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Thomas Yew Jia-Jong told Bernama that markets will look at the US Federal Reserve meeting minutes tonight for any indication of an early rate hike.

Plantation heavyweight Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd was the top gainer as the market closed, adding 34 sen to RM22.40, while Dutch Lady Milk Industries rose 32 sen to RM47.32.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 413 to 341, with 350 counters unchanged, 700 counters untraded and 19 others suspended.

Total volume on Bursa today stood at 1.92 billion shares worth RM1.94  billion, down from yesterday's 2.09 billion units worth RM1.99 billion.

The FBM Emas Index was 0.6 point lower at 12,498.19, the FBMT100 Index lost 1.09 points to 12,170.99 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined two points to 12,993.15.

The FBM 70 edged down 15.3 points to 13,580.79 and the FBM Ace was down 48.19 points to 7,162.05.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index added 4.06 points to 16,132.13, the Industrial Index went up 5.52 points to 3,275.46, but the Plantation Index trimmed 5.47 points to 7,519.96.

Among actives, Malakoff was down four sen to RM1.72, while Kanger and Nexgram were both one sen lower at 20 sen and 12 sen, respectively.

China Automobile advanced five sen to 50 sen while Frontken remained flat at 32 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM9.37, Public Bank increased four sen to RM19.22, while TNB was flat at RM13.98.

Axiata eased three sen to RM6.72 and Sime Darby shed one sen to RM8.94.

Main Market volume expanded to 1.32 billion units worth RM1.79 billion from yesterday's 1.18 billion shares worth RM1.78 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market rose to 532.59 million shares valued at RM141.05 million compared with 836.44 million shares valued at RM194.01 million previously.

Warrants decreased to 64.49 million units worth RM9.64 million from 73.24 million units worth RM17.04 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 113.31 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (280.13 million), construction (51.08 million), trade and services (630.71 million), technology (103.72 million), infrastructure (20.12 million), SPAC (9.67 million), finance (32.98 million), hotels (510,300), properties (60.62 million), plantations (9.45 million), mining (5,000), REITs (11.58 million) and closed/fund (5,000).

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd issued an unusual market activity query to E.A. Technique (M) Bhd today due to the rise in price of the company's securities.

At close, E.A. Technique slid four sen or 3.42 per cent to RM1.13 with 8.11 million units transacted. — Bernama