KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended marginally higher as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the re-tabling of Budget 2023 this Friday.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched up 0.55 of-a-point or 0.04 per cent to end at 1,474.01 compared with Monday's close of 1,473.46.
The key index opened 0.65 of-a-point higher at 1,474.11 and moved between 1,471.85 and 1,477.36 throughout the trading day.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 621 to 316, while 382 counters were unchanged, 905 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 3.38 billion units worth RM1.85 billion from Monday's 3.14 billion units worth RM2.14 billion.
A dealer said trading on the local bourse was lacklustre while waiting for the second tabling of Budget 2023 this Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local market would see some headwinds amid the heightening global volatility.
"Nonetheless we believe accumulation of stocks to persist on dips. As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to hover within 1,470-1,490 for the remainder of the week with immediate support at 1,460 while resistance is at 1,500,” he said.
Bursa Malaysia’s trading was also in line with key regional peers
Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.16 per cent to 3,303.42, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 1.71 per cent to 20,529.49 and Japan's Nikkei 225 eased 0.21 per cent to 27,473.10.
ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were caught in sideways trade on Tuesday with traders positioning for the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes on Wednesday.
"Currently, markets are pricing a slightly hawkish US Federal Reserve amid strong US employment data and mixed signals from the latest US Consumer Price Index.
"Last week, some headwinds hit risk-on sentiment after voting FOMC members started favouring a 50 bps hike in the next meeting in the event that data continues to show that price pressures aren't easing as much the committee had expected,” he said in a note earlier today.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Petronas Chemicals surged 16 sen to RM8.36, CIMB gained two sen to RM5.44, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM20.40, Maybank fell four sen to RM8.70, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.15.
As for active stocks, EG Industries
jumped 21 sen to RM1.07, Velesto edged up half-a-sen to 24.5 sen, Zen Tech was flat at 3.5 sen, MMAG Holdings edged down half-a-sen to two sen and MYEG declined 1.5 sen to 66 sen. - Reuters
