KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Losses in heavyweight counters, led by banking stocks, weighed on Bursa Malaysia amid caution ahead of US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on the US interest rate outlook later today and tomorrow.

However, the broader market was positive as interest centered on lower liners due to optimism over corporate earnings and improving economic conditions, according to Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI fell 0.39 per cent, or 5.77 points to end at 1,457.60 from yesterday’s closing of 1,463.37.

The index opened 2.24 points easier at 1,461.13 and moved between 1,454.46 and 1,462.01 throughout the trading session.

The broader market was positive as gainers led decliners 490 to 412, while 454 counters were unchanged, 1,008 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Turnover expanded to 3.45 billion units valued at RM1.97 billion from Tuesday’s 3.27 billion units valued at RM2.17 billion.

Thong said the near-term outlook for Malaysian stocks is likely to remain positive, supported by their attractive valuations, robust corporate earnings and improving economic conditions.

"We anticipate the benchmark index to rebound anytime soon and expect it to trend within the range of 1,455-1,470 for the rest of the week,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank lost three sen to RM4.21, Hong Leong Financial Group slid 46 sen to RM17.14 and CIMB fell four sen to RM5.77. Maybank dropped three sen to RM9.12 and IHH Healthcare was five sen weaker at RM6.

Of the actives, Fitters and Kanger were flat at 5.0 sen and 9.5 sen, respectively, while Top Glove added one sen to 79 sen. SMTrack and Widad were both flat at 4.5 sen and 45.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 22.70 points to 10,779.38 and the FBMT 100 Index shed 25.65 points to 10,443.06.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index added 1.32 points to 10,999.43, the FBM 70 Index advanced 33.28 points to 14,286.61 and the FBM ACE Index gained 32.57 points to 5,130.10.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.56 of a point to 173.41 and the Plantation Index shed 1.50 points to 6,956.36. The Energy Index was 5.93 points weaker at 864.95 and the Financial Services Index dipped 89.58 points to 16,370.25.

The Main Market volume went up to 2.23 billion units worth RM1.71 billion compared with Tuesday’s 2.1 billion units worth RM1.91 billion.

Warrant turnover fell to 379.18 million units valued at RM56.94 million from 380.13 million units valued at RM53.48 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume increased to 835.54 million shares worth RM209.59 million from 774.76 million shares worth RM199.73 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 374.72 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (666.49 million); construction (175.01 million); technology (204.33 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (45.12 million); property (242.76 million); plantation (30.75 million); REITs (8.70 million), closed/fund (30,000); energy (97.38 million); healthcare (171.09 million); telecommunications and media (21.15 million); transportation and logistics (72.80 million); and utilities (124.51 million). — Bernama