KUALA LUMPUR (March 19): Bursa Malaysia ended trading at an intraday low and snapped its three-day winning streak on Tuesday, following the lacklustre performance seen across the region, said an analyst. 

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 8.68 points to 1,544.96 from Monday’s close of 1,553.64.

The benchmark index opened 2.05 points easier at 1,551.59 and reached its intraday high of 1,552.1 during the mid-morning session.

However, market breadth was positive with gainers leading decliners 510 to 502, while 486 counters were unchanged, 796 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover declined to 4.06 billion units worth RM3.09 billion from 4.24 billion units worth RM2.79 billion on Monday.  

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said that key regional indices ended mostly lower due to concerns about potentially hawkish signals from the US Federal Reserve (Fed).

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 1.24% to 16,529.48, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.1% to 2,656.17, and China's SSE Composite Index slid 0.72% to 3,062.76. 

"Additionally, investors are anticipating policy decisions from central bank officials in the US, Taiwan, Indonesia, Turkiye, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico, among others, later in the week," he said. 

On the local front, Thong believes that investor sentiment would remain steady given the strong support from local institutions despite the sell-off today. 

"Having said that, we prefer to stay prudent given the increasing market volatility and expect the benchmark index to stay in consolidation mode until more clarity emerges. 

"As such, we maintain our weekly FBM KLCI target between 1,540-1,570 level," he said. 

Among the heavyweights, Maybank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd dropped 10 sen each to RM9.65 and RM11.50, respectively. 

Public Bank Bhd eased a sen to RM4.28, CIMB Group Bhd slipped four sen to RM6.61, and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd shed five sen to RM6.81. 

As for the actives, Ta Win Holdings Bhd and Talam Transform Bhd trimmed half a sen each to three sen and 1.5 sen, respectively, Harvest Miracle Capital Bhd gave up a sen to 11.5 sen, Fitters Diversified Bhd rose one sen to six sen, and Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd was flat at one sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 38.82 points to 11,518.55, the FBMT 100 Index declined 40.58 points to 11,178.27, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 26.75 points to 11,537.26.

However, the FBM ACE Index improved by 33.97 points to 4,751.09 and the FBM 70 Index increased by 34.92 points to 15,750.37. 

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index tumbled 57.67 points to 17,281.38, the Plantation Index slipped 6.68 points to 7,278.76, the Energy Index edged down 3.00 points to 925.41, but the Industrial Products and Services Index perked up 0.11 of a point to 177.35.

The Main Market volume narrowed to 2.5 billion units valued at RM2.77 billion from 2.83 billion units valued at RM2.5 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 805.77 million units worth RM104.88 million from 836.4 million units worth RM112.35 million previously.   

The ACE Market volume expanded to 744.37 million shares worth RM205.36 million from 546.78 million shares worth RM184.68 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 268.88 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (501.75 million); construction (315.86 million); technology (449.7 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (129.84 million); property (425.71 million); plantation (40.15 million); REITs (7.56 million), closed/fund (14,900); energy (114.95 million); healthcare (42.71 million); telecommunications and media (37.11 million); transportation and logistics (46.99 million); and utilities (122.77 million).