KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower by midday due to cautious sentiment impacting buying trends, amid the absence of market-moving factors.
At lunch break, the FBM KLCI fell 2.80 points, or 0.17% to 1,607.37. The index earlier slipped to its intra-morning low of 1,604.48.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers with 612 stocks ending lower and 476 stocks finishing higher indicating the bears were in better control.
Volume was 3.4 billion shares valued at RM2.03bil.
Among the losers, PETRONAS Gas fell 34 sen to RM17.66, Dayang lost 28 sen to RM2.81, Malaysian Pacific Industries
declined 26 sen to RM39.70 and Press Metal eased 22 sen to RM5.76.
PIE Industrial surged 90 sen to RM7.09, Nestle rose 80 sen to RM124.10, KESM gained 62 sen to RM7.78 and Ajinomoto added 44 sen to RM15.98.
TA Securities said stocks should trade sideways ahead of the long weekend break due to the religious Hari Raya Haji holiday, and as investors shift focus to Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision.
“Immediate index supports are at 1,602, the rising 30-day moving average, with 1,589 and 1,559, the respective 50-day and 100-day moving averages, acting as stronger supports.
“Immediate resistance remains the recent high of 1,632, with 1,640, 1,660 and then 1,680 as tougher upside hurdles,” TA said.
Rakuten Trade believes the accumulation of stocks to continue.
“We noticed consensus had upgraded earnings growth for 2025 and the benchmark index’s prospect for 2024/25, thus we have our 2024 target at 1,730 premised on 16.5x market PER from 1,660 previously.
“For today, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend between the 1,610-1,620 range,” the research house said.
