KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Substantial gains in Press Metal and Telekom Malaysia helped Bursa Malaysia’s barometer index to pare some of its earlier losses amid the selling pressure in heavyweight stocks.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 2.88 points to 1,611.49 from Monday’s close of 1,614.37.

The FBM KLCI, which opened 2.63 points higher at 1,617.00, fluctuated between 1,609.26 and 1,617.37 throughout the day.

Market breadth continued to improve, with gainers surpassing decliners 797 to 496, while 455 counters remained unchanged, 652 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover expanded to 6.98 billion units worth RM5.12 billion from yesterday’s 5.96 billion units worth RM3.30 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investors were pouring money into small capitalisation counters and moving away from bluechips ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting outcome tomorrow.

Consensus views suggest that the Federal Rserve will keep rates steady following the strong job data last Friday, with focus on its latest forecasts for the economy and inflation.

“Despite the FBM KLCI closing negatively today, small-cap stocks remained strong, with significant buying in the construction and technology sectors.

“We see the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Small Cap Index rising towards the 20,000 points, a level it has not reached since 1997,” he told Bernama.

Thong said incoming foreign direct investments in data centres continue to generate buying interest in tech and related stocks.

“We anticipate the benchmark index to consolidate in the short term to absorb the recent uptrend and set the stage for further advancement.

“Therefore, we see the FBM KLCI moving within the 1,610-1,630 range for the rest of the week, with immediate resistance at 1,620 and support at 1,600,” he noted.

Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals lost 12 sen to RM6.59, Sime Darby shaved 10 sen to RM2.65, Public Bank eased three sen to RM4.08, while Nestle shrank RM2.30 to RM124.00.

In contrast, Press Metal climbed 16 sen to RM5.91 and TM soared 30 sen to RM6.59.

As for the actives, Harvest Miracle improved by one sen to 10.5 sen, JCY International advanced 13 sen to 79.5 sen, SNS Network surged 10.5 sen to 75.5 sen, YNH Property jumped 12.5 sen to 79.5 sen, and Ekovest rose two sen to 48.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 17.28 points to 12,373.29, the FBMT 100 Index put on 10.23 points to 11,939.21, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 53.31 points to 12,715.62, the FBM 70 Index expanded 142.84 points to 17,978.41, and the FBM ACE Index jumped 79.84 points to 5,748.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 54.77 points to 17,591.38 and the Plantation Index fell 51.52 points to 7,050.76, while the Energy Index gained 7.63 points to 990.74, and the Industrial Products and Services Index perked up 1.72 points to 199.74.

The Main Market volume improved to 4.10 billion units worth RM4.38 billion from 3.96 billion units worth RM2.82 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover surged to 991.98 million units valued at RM116.75 million from 399.07 million units valued at RM46.45 million previously.

The ACE Market volume advanced to 1.88 billion shares worth RM613.17 million from 1.60 billion shares worth RM430.22 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 608.77 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (642.22 million), construction (555.65 million), technology (581.69 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (117.11 million), property (911.78 million), plantation (29.79 million), REITs (27.79 million), closed/fund (32,000), energy (180.85 million), healthcare (75.39 million), telecommunications and media (68.87 million), transportation and logistics (147.53 million), utilities (156.06 million), and business trusts (493,300). — Bernama