KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Continuous selling in selected heavyweights, led by consumer products and services counters, pulled back Bursa Malaysia to end at an intraday low today, marking its second consecutive day of decline, in line with the negative sentiment on regional bourses.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.59 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,389.90 from 1,392.49 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 0.11 points lower at 1,392.38 this morning and moved to its highest level of 1,395.82 in the early morning session.

However, the broader market was positive as gainers beat losers 438 to 378, while 440 counters were unchanged, 979 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 2.54 billion units worth RM1.52 billion versus 2.60 billion units worth RM1.57 billion yesterday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed marginally lower after a bumpy trading session.

He said key regional indices ended in negative territory mainly due to cautious trading as the Caixin China services purchasing managers’ index declined to 53.9 from 57.1 in May, below the median forecast of 56.2 among economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Thong added that Japan’s factory activity fell in June due to weak orders for cyclical goods amid a global economic slowdown.

“Back home, the benchmark index was stuck in a consolidation mode due to cautious trading across the region; hence we advise investors to focus on large-cap stocks such as banks, plantations and telcos; and domestically-driven stocks including construction and retail real estate investment trust (Reits) for better defensive strategy.

“We reckon the performance of FBM KLCI to remain steady supported by improving fundamentals of the local economy although resistance remained strong slightly below the 1,400 level,” he told Bernama.

Notwithstanding this, Thong maintained the FBM KLCI target for the week at 1,390-1,405, with immediate resistance at 1,400 and support at 1,373.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank slid one sen to RM3.90, CIMB erased two sen to RM5.18, Tenaga Nasional went down five sen to RM9.08, while Maybank and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM8.70 and RM5.83, respectively.

Of the actives, BTM Resources and Sarawak Consolidated added half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen and 47.5 sen, Parkson was up 2.5 sen to 21.5 sen, Widad lost half-a-sen to 41.5 sen, TWL Holdings was flat at 3.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 7.30 points to 10,251.52, the FBMT 100 Index declined 10.41 points to 9,945.39, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 0.95 of-a-point firmer at 10,531.33, the FBM ACE Index expanded 70.50 points to 5,165.37, and the FBM 70 Index ticked up 20.37 points to 13,551.47.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 18.64 points to 15,464.53, the Industrial Products and Services Index put on 0.17 of-a-point to 158.97, the Energy Index increased 5.76 points to 798.17, and the Plantation Index climbed 86.43 points to 6,916.17.

The Main Market volume weakened to 1.79 billion units valued at RM1.28 billion from 1.90 billion units valued at RM1.33 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 258.97 million units worth RM43.42 million against 269.65 million units worth RM43.63 million yesterday.

The ACE Market’s volume widened to 439.84 million shares valued at RM203.20 million from 429.28 million shares valued at RM193.23 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 429.01 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (457.93 million); construction (153.48 million); technology (120.88 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (80.60 million); property (238.20 million); plantation (33.99 million); Reits (6.82 million), closed/fund (29,500); energy (138.09 million); healthcare (42.00 million); telecommunications and media (38.23 million); transportation and logistics (25.10 million); and utilities (29.58 million). — Bernama