KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — The FBM KLCI pared losses but remained in negative territory as investors were reluctant to make significant moves due to lack of buying interests and weak market sentiment, said an analyst.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 0.13 of-a-point to 1,448.02 from Monday’s closing of 1,448.15.

The barometer index opened 2.04 points better at 1,450.19 and moved between 1,446.60 and 1,452.60 throughout the trading session.

Market breadth was negative, with losers surpassing gainers at 526 to 390, while 450 counters were unchanged, 1,044 untraded and 72 others suspended.

Turnover expanded to 3.81 billion units valued at RM2.38 billion from 3.09 billion units worth RM2.05 billion on Monday.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices finished mostly lower following a negative cue from global equities overnight.

He said investors were eagerly anticipating updates on inflation data and insights into how the United States (US) consumers respond to it.

On the domestic front, despite the prevailing cautious sentiment, Thong said the sell-down offers an opportunity for investors to hunt for bargains in stocks at lower levels.

“Hence, we expect bargain hunting to emerge and anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,445-1,465 range for the rest of the week,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group was down 7.0 sen to RM5.68, Petronas Chemicals eased 1.0 sen to RM7.08, RHB Bank declined 6.0 sen to RM5.51, PPB eased 12 sen to RM14.06, while Public Bank and PMetal shed 2.0 sen each to RM4.22 and RM4.85, respectively.

Of the most active, Hong Seong was flat at 2.5 sen, Top Glove added 2.0 sen to 90 sen, CSH grew half-a-sen to 6.0 sen and Leform gained 1.5 sen to 31.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 2.89 points lower at 10,722.57, the FBMT 100 Index slid 4.07 points to 10,386.55 while the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 18.87 points to 10,892.93.

The FBM 70 Index slipped by 19.17 points to 14,262.17 and the FBM ACE Index fell by 23.16 points to 5,084.21.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 63.99 points to 16,277.91, the Energy Index dipped 8.77 points to 821.91, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.54 of-a-point to 171.70, while the Plantation Index advanced 63.12 points to 7,006.57.

Main Market volume grew to 2.45 billion units worth RM2.07 billion from 1.82 billion units valued at RM1.71 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover widened to 572.27 million units valued at RM68.95 million against 496.10 million units worth RM63.91 million previously.

ACE Market volume rose to 781.40 million shares worth RM242.71 million versus 776.51 million shares valued at RM279.85 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 337.19 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (572.28 million); construction (103.42 million); technology (557.23 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (69.53 million); property (201.02 million); plantation (29.91 million); REITs (9.63 million), closed/fund (58,100); energy (136.83 million); healthcare (277.21 million); telecommunications and media (30.47 million); transportation and logistics (41.13 million); and utilities (86.14 million). — Bernama