KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower today in lacklustre trading, driven by persistent profit-taking in selected financial services and plantation counters, amid mixed sentiment on regional markets, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.47 points or 0.10 per cent to 1,493.56 from Friday’s closing of 1,495.03.

The market bellwether opened 0.22 of-a-point weaker at 1,494.81 and moved between 1,489.0 and 1,496.05 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 485 to 411, while 387 counters were unchanged, 919 untraded, and 28 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.92 billion units worth RM2.03 billion against Friday’s 3.40 billion units worth RM2.02 billion.

Maybank and Kuala Lumpur Kepong were the top two losers in FBM KLCI constituents, declining 8.0 sen and 42 sen to end at RM8.78 and RM21.76 respectively, contributing a combined 2.36 points to the gains in the index.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices were mixed as investors were cautiously awaiting the decison by the Bank of Japan (BOJ), whether it will defend its super-sized stimulus policy at a pivotal meeting this week.

"Meanwhile, Shanghai and Hong Kong stocks resume their uptrend as investors expect the Chinese economy to recover eventually this year after relaxing most of its anti-COVID measures, as the republic reopened its borders last week.

"As for the local bourse, we expect bargain hunting to prevail given the cheap valuations of local stocks, despite the cautious market undertone. As such, we expect the benchmark index to trend higher and anticipate it to re-test the 1,500-mark this week.

"Technically, we see the immediate resistance at 1,500 followed by 1,530 and support at 1,470,” he told Bernama today.

Region-wise, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index inched up 0.04 per cent to 21,746.72, China’s SSE Composite Index added 1.01 per cent to 3,227.59, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.58 per cent to 2,399.86, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined by 0.31 per cent to 3,283.60, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.14 per cent to 25,822.32.

Among other heavyweights, Public Bank eased 1.0 sen to RM4.32, CIMB and IHH Healthcare fell 2.0 sen each to RM5.76 and RM5.97, respectively, TNB shed 3.0 sen to RM9.45, while Petronas Chemicals rose 10 sen to RM8.50.

As for the actives, Sapura Energy and Velesto perked up half-a-sen each to 5.0 sen and 18 sen, respectively, Wellspire jumped 20 sen to 43 sen, while Revenue Group surged 26.5 sen to 75 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 8.69 points to 10,794.49, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 6.78 points to 10,489.35, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 35.63 points firmer at 11,012.35.

The FBM 70 Index was 82.42 points better at 13,463.09 and the FBM ACE Index garnered 44.50 points to 5,499.98.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index slipped 2.05 points to 820.89, the Technology Index eased 0.08 of-a-point to 66.88, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.64 points to 186.93, while the Financial Services Index rose 61.83 points to 16,559.32 and the Plantation Index fell 23.58 points to 6,899.33.

The Main Market volume expanded to 2.51 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion compared with Friday’s 2.09 billion shares worth RM1.53 billion.

Warrants turnover improved to 323.11 million units worth RM64.50 million from 317.53 million units worth RM65.01 million.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 1.09 billion shares worth RM366.76 million from 987.01 million shares worth RM415.28 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 254.40 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (485.16 million); construction (57.10 million); technology (410.13 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (51.62 million); property (101.22 million); plantation (22.72 million); REITs (6.58 million), closed/fund (1,000); energy (942.07 million); healthcare (111.06 million); telecommunications and media (26.23 million); transportation and logistics (36.81 million); and utilities (16.75 million). — Bernama