KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Bursa Malaysia ended broadly lower after a lacklustre trading session as investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves due to the absence of buying catalyst, said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.35 points to 1,597.95 from 1,603.30 at Friday’s close.

The key index opened 2.84 points higher to 1,606.14, to record its intraday high, and hit a low of 1,595.37 about 30 minutes before the session ended.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 527 to 339, while 518 counters were unchanged, 924 untraded, and 52 others suspended.

Total turnover decreased to 2.41 billion units worth RM1.89 billion from 2.78 billion units valued at RM2.22 billion last Friday.

Thong said regionally, the key indices were mixed due to different reactions over the lockdown in Shanghai following the resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.51 per cent to 3,431.12, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.31 per cent to 21,684.97, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.73 per cent to 27,943.89 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.02 per cent to 2,729.56.

"Investors opine that the lockdown will hit global activity which will worsen the supply chain issue and eventually add to inflationary pressures, while others are taking opportunities to bargain-hunt for stocks particularly energy and technology stocks.

"As for the local bourse, the FBM KLCI remains in a consolidation mode since the middle of March due to heightened market risks,” he told Bernama.

Thong reckons that geopolitical tensions and supply constraints are likely to dominate investor sentiment this week.

"We believe the market undertone will remain cautious although bargain-hunting activities may prevail.

"As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to move in range bound mode and hover at the 1,590-1,610 range for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,620 and support at 1,580,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose by six sen to RM8.96, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.67, Petronas Chemicals bagged 18 sen to RM9.78, while IHH Healthcare shed 12 sen to RM6.40, CIMB dipped four sen to RM5.33 and Press Metal lost 16 sen to RM6.09.

Of the actives, Tanco Holdings gained eight sen to 32 sen, Hextar Industries rose 2.5 sen to 32 sen, Dagang NeXchange shed four sen to RM1.02, BSL Corp eased 1.5 sen to 18.5 sen, while Prolexus lost two sen to 69 sen.

On the index board, FBM 70 declined by 93.53 points to 13,717.14, FBM Emas Index was 50.00 points lower at 11,408.29, FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 93.93 points to 11,992.66, FBMT 100 Index lost 46.10 points to 11,096.90 and FBM ACE slid 49.12 points to 5,566.16.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.35 of-a-point to 204.84 and the Plantation Index weakened 66.41 points to 8,017.17, while the Financial Services Index rose 24.85 points to 16,768.58.

The Main Market volume declined to 1.63 billion shares worth RM1.70 billion compared with 1.87 billion shares worth RM2.0 billion last Friday.

Warrants turnover shrank to 390.72 million units valued at RM64.15 million against 459.41 million units valued at RM76.0 million.

The ACE Market volume dropped to 388.23 million shares worth RM123.22 million versus 457.09 million shares worth RM135.29 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 364.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (502.84 billion), construction (46.06 million), technology (195.82 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (61.03 million), property (194.84 million), plantation (31.99 million), REITs (5.08 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (105.76 million), healthcare (46.14 million), telecommunications and media (32.27 million), transportation and logistics (19.74 million), and utilities (24.62 million). — Bernama