KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend with the benchmark index closing at its intraday low today, amid profit-taking after a strong closing yesterday.

The local bourse started the week strongly yesterday, buoyed by continued positive momentum with the FBM KLCI finishing 0.48 per cent higher lifted by buying interest in utilities and telecommunication stocks, said an analyst.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.69 points or 0.42 per cent to 1,575.97 from Monday’s close of 1,582.66.

The key index opened 0.92 of-a-point better at 1,583.58 and hit its day’s high at 1,589.06 in the early morning session.

However, on the broader market, gainers led losers 524 to 521, while 493 counters were unchanged, 799 untraded and 74 others suspended.

Turnover declined to 4.18 billion units worth RM3.75 billion from 4.24 billion units worth RM3.25 billion yesterday.

A dealer said Bursa Malaysia opened higher today but turned into negative territory at mid-morning to end lower on profit-taking.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices were mostly positive following the upbeat tone on Wall Street overnight given the encouraging corporate earnings and easing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

"We believe that profit-taking in the local equities market is healthy as it allows the market to digest the recent uptrend. We maintain our weekly FBM KLCI target at 1,570 to 1,590 with immediate resistance at 1,590 and support at 1,560,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Asian shares advanced today, led by Japanese equities following China’s higher-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter of 2024.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.24 per cent to 38,405.66, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.09 per cent to 17,763.03 and South Korea’s Kospi improved 0.17 per cent to 2,692.06, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.32 per cent to 3,292.96, while China’s SSE Composite Index eased 0.26 per cent to 3,104.82.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank slid two sen to RM9.73, Public Bank lost six sen to RM4.12 and IHH Healthcare shed four sen to RM6.33.

Tenaga Nasional rose four sen to RM11.96 while CIMB was flat at RM6.61.

As for the actives, MyEG gained 2.5 sen to 93.5 sen, Iconic Worldwide warrant added 1.5 sen to 4.5 sen, Classita Holdings edged up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, Iconic Worldwide bagged 2.5 sen to 10.5 sen, while Main Market debutant MKH Oil Palm eased half-a-sen to 61.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 28.76 points to 11,872.26, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 32.53 points to 11,502.73, the FBM ACE Index shed 15.31 points to 5,076.70, while the FBM 70 Index added 19.76 points to 16,621.25 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 1.46 points to 12,085.94.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 59.25 points to 17,214.15, the Energy Index eased 4.83 points to 975.66, the Plantation Index slid 22.51 points to 7,436.76, but the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.56 of-a-point to 189.14.

The Main Market volume rose to 2.82 billion units valued at RM3.41 billion versus 2.46 billion units valued at RM3.11 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover shrank to 865.71 million units worth RM125.79 million against 1.18 billion units worth RM174.02 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume fell to 500.90 million shares worth RM207.06 million from 596.31 million shares worth RM195.33 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 877.98 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (452.96 million), construction (204.26 million), technology (309.34 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (135.77 million), property (274.90 million), plantation (144.03 million), REITs (23.39 million), closed/fund (22,400), energy (105.48 million), healthcare (75.50 million), telecommunications and media (46.70 million), transportation and logistics (38.47 million), utilities (120.03 million), and business trusts (3.74 million).

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in conjunction with the Labour Day holiday, and will resume operations on Thursday, May 2. — Bernama