KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Bursa Malaysia ended in the negative territory as losses in selected heavyweights, small-capitalised shares, as well as, lower-liners dragged the local index lower amid weak sentiment on the external front, dealers said. 

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended Tuesday’s trading at 1,690.41, down 0.41 per cent or 7.09 points from Monday’s close of 1,697.50.

The barometer index moved between 1,688.48 and 1,694.71 throughout the day, after opening 2.79 points lower at 1,694.71.

Market breadth was negative with 487 losers and 299 gainers with 363 counters unchanged, 776 untraded and 102 others were suspended.

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Total volume eased marginally to 2.23 billion shares, valued at RM2.03 billion, from Monday’s 2.25 billion shares, worth RM1.94 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said despite the mixed performance on regional stock markets, most local indices remained in the red as investors were concerned over the slowdown in  China.

“Investors are also waiting for the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting this week for further direction, as the market is clueless at the moment,” he told Bernama.

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On the local front, he said higher Maybank, CIMB and Hong Leong share prices cushioned the negative external impact on the local bourse.

“Inflow of foreign funds are coming in and we think this will probably continue despite the short trading week ahead for the Chinese New Year holidays.

“We expect the index to trade range-bound this week. Resistance is located at 1,700 level,” said Yee.

Among heavyweights, Maybank recovered three sen to RM9.69, Public Bank eased two sen to RM24.80, TNB fell eight sen to RM13.50 and Petronas Chemicals lost 17 sen to RM8.45.

CIMB added one sen to RM5.67 and Hong Leong rose two sen to RM20.72.

Of  actives, Sapura Energy fell 1.5 sen to 27 sen, Eduspec was flat at two sen and Bumi Armada shed half-a-sen to 21 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 51.54 points easier at 11,702.70, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 49.04 points to 11,591.06, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 92.77 points to 11,591.71, the FBM 70 dipped 60.20 points to 13,866.80 and the FBM Ace Index declined 31.72 points to 4,361.37.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index, however, gained 3.39 points to 17,621.82 but the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.53 points to 161.52 and the Plantation Index eased 49.08 points to 7,263.81.

Main Market volume slipped to 1.58 billion shares, worth RM1.92 billion, against Monday’s 1.69 billion shares valued at RM1.84 billion.

Warrants turnover expanded to 360.67 million units, worth RM73.36 million, against 325.40 million units, worth RM71.40 million, transacted yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 279.63 million shares, valued at RM33.51 million compared with 226.61 million shares, worth RM33.23 million, recorded on Monday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 251.01 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (172.71 million), construction (85.81 million), technology (90.46 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (55.22 million), property (58.53 million), plantations (29.47 million), REITs (18.72 million), closed/fund (18,000), energy (700.87 million), healthcare (27.92 million), telecommunications and media (43.71 million), transportation and logistics (35.18 million) and, utilities (18.32 million). — Bernama