KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Bursa Malaysia pared some of its early gains to end the day marginally higher on bargain-hunting in selected heavyweights led by Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd ™ and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG).

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.05 of-a-point to end at 1,597.18, compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,597.13.

Hong Leong Bank rose 16 sen to RM20.58, TM added 12 sen to RM4.88 and HLFG perked up eight sen to RM19.36. The three heavyweights contributed a combined 1.56 points to the gain in the barometer index.

The FBM KLCI opened 2.49 points firmer at 1,599.62 and moved between 1,596.13 and 1,605.11 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 505 to 394 with 463 counters unchanged, 891 untraded, and 12 others suspended.

Total turnover decreased to 3.54 billion units worth RM2.42 billion from 3.90 billion units worth RM2.44 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said, regionally, key indices were mixed as investors continued to digest the US inflation data, which showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.5 per cent year-on-year in March 2022 — its highest level since late 1981.

"With such an inflation rate, we reckon cost pressures will continue to remain a major risk to the US economy,” he told Bernama.

On the domestic front, Thong believes that the market sentiment will remain jittery amid the weak regional market performance.

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

Region-wise, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.93 per cent to 26,843.49, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.86 per cent to 2,716.49, Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.36 per cent to 3,342.22, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.26 per cent to 21,374.37, but China’s SSE Composite Index fell 0.82 per cent to 3,186.82.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank increased two sen to RM8.84, IHH Healthcare added eight sen to RM6.44, CIMB lost five sen to RM5.28, while both Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM4.67 and RM10.26, respectively.

Of the actives, Techna-X bagged half-a-sen to 10 sen, Vortex fell 2.5 sen to 17 sen, ATA IMS declined five sen to 48 sen, CSH Alliance shed half-a-sen to 13.5 sen, while Vizione was flat at 10.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index increased 13.87 points to 11,110.40, FBM Emas Index was 19.67 points firmer at 11,463.34, FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 29.12 points to 12,085.82, FBM 70 jumped 72.35 points to 13,810.65, and the FBM ACE expanded 18.54 points to 5,823.65.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.73 of-a-point to 213.75, the Financial Services Index gained 14.02 points to 16,733.0, and the Plantation Index advanced 30.24 points to 8,505.58.

The Main Market volume fell to 2.48 billion shares worth RM2.0 billion compared with 2.85 billion shares worth RM2.21 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 239.55 million units valued at RM41.68 million against 362.51 million units valued at RM64.22 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 825.48 million shares worth RM195.86 million versus 686.56 million shares worth RM167.53 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 360.19 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (731.03 million), construction (395.34 million), technology (134.68 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (67.18 million), property (278.18 million), plantation (75.87 million), REITs (3.95 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (304.63 million), healthcare (41.39 million), telecommunications and media (19.37 million), transportation and logistics (42.13 million), and utilities (26.61 million). — Bernama