KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 ― Bursa Malaysia pared most of its earlier losses to close marginally lower by 0.08 per cent today, weighed by financial services stocks amid the weak market sentiment.

Banking counters Public Bank declined five sen to RM3.95 and Maybank shed six sen to RM8.49. Both counters contributed 2.81 points to the key index's fall at the close today.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.06 points to 1,410.98, which was the day’s high, from yesterday's close of 1,412.04.

The market bellwether opened 5.07 points easier at 1,406.97 and hit an intraday low 1,403.55 during the midday session.

On the broader market, decliners leading gainers 434 to 468, while 407 counters were unchanged, 964 untraded and seven others suspended.

Turnover rose to 3.26 billion units worth RM2.03 billion from yesterday's 3.12 billion units worth RM1.89 billion.

Regionally, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 2.34 per cent to 20,049.64, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index improved by 1.20 per cent to 6,691.61, Singapore's Straits Times Index slid 0.06 per cent to 3,219.00, Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.17 per cent to 27,419.61, while China’s SSE Composite Index rose 0.64 per cent to 3,286.65.

A dealer said the market reacted negatively to the US Federal Reserve's decision to hike its interest rate by 25 basis points, and investors were also cautious ahead of the release of Malaysia's consumer price index tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in its research note earlier today, said investors may brace for more volatility and would likely choose to expose further in defensive stocks in the consumer, telecommunications and utilities sectors.

Among Bursa Malaysia heavyweights, CIMB and Petronas Chemicals added one sen each to RM5.21 and RM6.80, respectively, TNB advanced four sen to RM9.56, Public Bank declined five sen to RM3.95, and IHH Healthcare went down six sen to RM5.82.

Among the actives, Top Glove jumped seven sen to RM1.02, Careplus rose three sen to 33.5 sen, Hong Seng Consolidated was flat at 13.5 sen, Zen Tech inched down half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, and Computer Forms slipped 8.5 sen to 35 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 14.31 points higher at 10,337.05, the FBMT 100 Index increased 12.57 points to 10,029.17, and the FBM 70 Index surged 100.05 points to 13,389.18.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 44.17 points to 10,670.54 and the FBM ACE Index climbed 12.97 points to 5,314.65.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 80.85 points to 15,566.15, the Energy Index rose 5.16 points to 811.25, the Plantation Index put on 20.33 points to 6,769.51, and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.46 of-a-point to 167.17.

The Main Market volume expanded to 2.28 billion shares worth RM1.76 billion compared with 2.04 billion shares worth RM1.59 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover swelled to 433.61 million units worth RM73.54 million against 422.09 million units worth RM64.29 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume declined to 546.78 million shares worth RM189.56 million from 648.05 million shares worth RM232.34 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 302.63 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (521.04 million); construction (56.17 million); technology (424.73 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (71.60 million); property (179.73 million); plantation (22.46 million); REITs (10.33 million), closed/fund (nil); energy (120.57 million); healthcare (418.96 million); telecommunications and media (86.34 million); transportation and logistics (25.96 million); and utilities (37.89 million). ― Bernama