KUALA LUMPUR: There was sideways trading on Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday as investors awaited fresh catalysts even as China's stock rally took a pause in the absence of new stimulus announcements.
At the midday break, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 1.96 points to 1,637.58 after trading within a tight six-point band of 1,625.9 and 1,642.29.
The broader market was slightly negative with 494 decliners compared to 463 gainers while the shares turnover was 1.96 billion changing hands for RM1.23bil.
There was some buying in bank stocks, including Maybank up six sen to RM10.54, CIMB adding six sen to RM8.02, Hong Leong Bank rising two sen to RM21.02 and RHB edging one sen higher to RM6.21.
Trading in Public Bank's securities, meanwhile, were suspended pending a material announcement.
Leading gainers on the market included Gamuda jumping 25 sen to RM8.24, Theta surging 18 sen to RM1.57 and Sunway Construction climbing 18 sen to RM4.50.
Of actives, Pertama Digital continued to lead as investors dumped its shares by a further 21 sen to 27.5 sen.
ACE Market debutant Crest gained 1.5 sen to 36.5 sen and 99 Speedmart lost one sen to RM2.45
Regionally, Chinese markets retreated sharply on profit-taking as investors awaited more evidence of economic support from Beijing.
The Shanghai composite index dove 5.3% to 3,304 while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 1.39% to 20,635.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.88% to 39,277 while Singapore's Straits Times index gained 0.38% to 3,589.
