KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20): Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Monday (Feb 20) due to the absence of catalysts as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the re-tabling of Budget 2023 this Friday and amid the corporate financial reporting season.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 3.44 points, or 0.23%, to end at 1,473.46 compared with last Friday's close of 1,476.9.

The key index opened 2.65 points weaker at 1,474.25 and moved between 1,471.07 and 1,477.48 throughout the trading day.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 539 to 315, while 411 counters were unchanged, 963 untraded, and 29 others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 3.14 billion units worth RM2.14 billion from last Friday's 3.27 billion units worth RM2.10 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the sentiment in the short term is likely to remain cautious amid persisting worries about inflation and tighter policy stance among global central banks.

"[However]...we do not discount the possibility of bargain hunting to emerge given the cheap valuations of the benchmark index. For the moment, we expect the FBM KLCI to continue its sideway trend within the range of 1,470-1,490 for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,500 and support at 1,460,” he told Bernama.

Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Public Bank Bhd added one sen to RM4.16, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd gained two sen to RM5.42, IHH Healthcare Bhd jumped 12 sen to RM6.10, Digi.Com Bhd soared 17 sen to RM4.47, Malayan Banking Bhd slipped one sen to RM8.74, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd declined eight sen to RM8.20.

As for active stocks, MMAG Holdings Bhd perked up one sen to 2.5 sen, MyEG Services Bhd went up 1.5 sen to 67.5 sen, Betamek Bhd advanced three sen to 64.5 sen, Ho Wah Genting Bhd was flat at 14.5 sen, Citaglobal Bhd eased two sen to 26.5 sen, and Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd inched down half-a-sen to 18 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 17.33 points to 10,724.83, the FBMT 100 Index fell 17.46 points to 10,392.78, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 27.69 points to 11,074.79, the FBM 70 Index slid 6.35 points to 13,531.78, and the FBM ACE Index declined 56.72 points to 5,602.94.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved by 29.13 points to 16,065.35, the Plantation Index slipped 23.25 points to 6,814.43, the Energy Index fell six points to 877.84, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 2.73 points to 187.79.

The Main Market volume shrank to 1.85 billion shares worth RM1.77 billion from last Friday's 2.14 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion.

Warrants turnover expanded to 391.79 million units worth RM57 million against 304.64 million units worth RM44.58 million.  

The ACE Market volume increased to 894.42 million shares worth RM311.97 million from 821.09 million shares worth RM301 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 255.45 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (633.82 million), construction (53.96 million), technology (308.65 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.26 million), property (95.26 million), plantation (28.28 million), REITs (5.97 million), closed/fund (14,900), energy (154.20 million), healthcare (128.36 million), telecommunications and media (70.36 million), transportation and logistics (62.67 million), and utilities (12.03 million).