KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Bursa Malaysia endured another listless trading today, with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closing almost unchanged.

The key index eased 0.28 of-a-point to 1,715.00 from yesterday's close of 1,715.28 after opening 1.29 points lower at 1,713.99.

It moved within a narrow range of between 1,716.66 and 1,711.41.

Market breadth, however, turned positive at the last hour of trading as gainers outpaced losers by 390 to 271, with 379 counters unchanged, 571 counters untraded and 10 others suspended.

Total volume expanded to 1.61 billion shares worth RM1.46 billion from 1.50 billion shares worth RM1.48 billion yesterday.

A dealer said the local market was forming a base with buying interspersed with mild profit-taking in index-linked counters, while many traders remained on the sidelines awaiting fresh leads.

"Fund just nibbled, ringgit didn't move much and maintained firmness at 3.88 level (against US dollar), neither Brent nor US crude oil futures held above US$40 per barrel.

"It is a timely moment for Bursa Malaysia to undergo a healthy consolidation before the bull recharge," he said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose two sen to RM9.14, Tenaga shed six sen to RM14.32, Digi.com declined 11 sen to RM4.74, while Genting Malaysia added 10 sen to RM4.59.

Among active stocks, Sumatec added two sen to 13 sen, AirAsia gained 12 sen to RM2.02, while EA Holdings shed two sen to 10.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index rose 6.97 points to 11,927.58, the FBMT100 Index rose 3.99 points to 11,620.57, but the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 22.64 points to 12,490.31.

The FBM 70 rose 25.71 points to 13,298.01 and the FBM Ace added 12.93 points to 5,752.38.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index rose 50.65 points to 14,873.44, the Industrial Index rose 1.51 points to 3,264.47 and the Plantation Index trimmed 40.37 points to 7,770.00.

The Main Market turnover surged to 1.02 billion units worth RM1.36 billion from yesterday's 881.96 million units worth RM1.38 billion.

The ACE Market turnover shrank to 394.74 million shares valued at RM68.02 million from 366.23 million shares valued at RM70.54 million yesterday.  

Warrants declined to 187.34 million units worth RM23.61 million from 250.03 million units worth RM29.58 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 46.48 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (213.83 million), construction (79.25 million), trade and services (514.90 million), technology (28.82 million), infrastructure (10.33 million), SPAC (17.65 million), finance (32.78 million), hotels (1.21 million), properties (61.22 million), plantations (12.18 million), mining (50,000), REITs (6.21 million), and closed/fund (16,000). — Bernama