KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): The main index of Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend and stayed lacklustre in the mid-morning as concerns over the Budget 2021 voting on Thursday kept local investors on tenterhooks.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 5.09 points at 1,592.39.

Market breadth was tepid with 488 losers and 340 gainers, while 425 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 2.24 billion shares valued at RM1.09 billion.

The top losers included Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Vivocom Intl Holdings Bhd and Scientex Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included Pegasus Heights Bhd, Vivocom, NetX Holdings Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Fintec Global Bhd, Trive Property Group Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The gainers included LPI Capital Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Petra Energy Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd and PPB Group Bhd.

Reuters said Asian stocks opened higher today as Covid-19 vaccine progress shored up global sentiment and US president-elect Joe Biden was given the go-ahead to begin his White House transition.

US General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy wrote in a letter to Biden yesterday that he can formally begin the handover process, it was reported.

JF Apex Securities said US markets closed in the green following the news that former US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen is expected to be nominated by Biden to be the treasury secretary.

Meanwhile, it said European markets ended mixed amid vaccine optimism.

“On the local market, the KLCI gained 3.73 points or 0.23% to 1,597.48.

“Following the positive performance posted by Wall Street, the local benchmark index could follow suit with its resistance level at 1,615 points,” it said.