KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 15): Bursa Malaysia has reversed its gains earlier to end broadly lower on Thursday (Sept 15) after a lacklustre trading session, as investors seem reluctant to make more significant moves due to the absence of buying catalysts, said an analyst. 

At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI eased by 1.13 points to 1,467.31, from Wednesday's close of 1,468.44.

The benchmark index opened 4.92 points higher at 1,473.36, subsequently moving between 1,466.33 and 1,478.54 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing advancers 415 to 378, while 433 counters were unchanged, 1,125 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Total turnover stood at 2.62 billion units worth RM2.67 billion, compared with 2.63 billion units worth RM1.63 billion on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices were mostly higher following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, supported by gains in energy stocks on spiking crude oil prices. 

“Nonetheless, investors remain cautious amid persisting worries about inflation and tighter policy stance of global central banks," he told Bernama. 

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed on Friday (Sept 16), in conjunction with Malaysia Day 2022, and will resume its operation on Monday (Sept 19). 

At the close, Bursa heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) improved by one sen to RM8.86, Public Bank Bhd increased three sen to RM4.47, and IHH Healthcare Bhd added 12 sen to RM6.32, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd dipped eight sen to RM8.62, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd shrank two sen to RM5.37.

Of the actives, Velesto Energy Bhd firmed one sen to 11.5 sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd shed two sen to 76.5 sen, while SNS Network Technology Bhd, Metronic Global Bhd and Dagang NeXchange Bhd were flat at 30 sen, two sen and 82.5 sen, respectively. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 0.62 of-a-point to 10,474.58, the FBMT 100 Index dwindled by 2.35 points to 10,214.65, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 13.97 points to 10,578.82, and the FBM ACE was 11.15 points lower at 4,833.75, while the FBM 70 climbed 19.41 points to 12,727.58.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 86.92 points to 6,858.12, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.28 of-a-point to 181.47, while the Energy Index was 18.68 points stronger at 737.62, and the Financial Services Index went up by 7.43 points to 16,491.48.

The Main Market volume rose to 1.73 billion shares worth RM2.35 billion, from 1.70 billion shares worth RM1.30 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover fell to 188.30 million units valued at RM27.73 million, from 298.73 million units valued at RM47.18 million previously.

The ACE Market volume climbed to 706.18 million shares worth RM293.68 million, from 632.45 million shares worth RM288.92 million on Wednesday. 

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 168.66 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (520.46 million), construction (44.66 million), technology (168.23 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (94.58 million), property (137.64 million), plantation (37.63 million), REITs (9.19 million), closed/fund (5,100), energy (300.99 million), healthcare (135.95 million), telecommunications and media (35.86 million), transportation and logistics (50.70 million), and utilities (23.01 million).