KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): Bursa Malaysia pared most of its earlier losses to end marginally lower on the first trading week of this year on lack of positive catalysts, amid a mixed performance on regional bourses.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.38 of-a-point to 1,480.55 from Thursday's closing of 1,480.93.

The market bellwether opened 1.4 points lower at 1,479.53 and moved between 1,474.48 and 1,482.39 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 452 to 383, while 408 counters were unchanged, 967 untraded, and nine others suspended.

Turnover eased to 3.16 billion units worth RM1.62 billion against Thursday's 3.31 billion units worth RM1.96 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the benchmark index is trading at around 13 times the price-earnings ratio as compared with its five-year average of around 18 times, hence it still offers potential upsides.

"On the other hand, some investors remain cautious due to the increasingly global market volatility,” he added.

Among heavyweights, IHH Healthcare Bhd advanced five sen to RM6.06, Digi.Com Bhd gained 10 sen to RM3.96, Hong Leong Bank Bhd rose 10 sen to RM20.44, Public Bank Bhd was flat at RM4.30, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was unchanged at RM8.40, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) eased one sen to RM8.77, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd shed six sen to RM5.67.

As for the actives, ACE Market debutant DS Sigma Holdings Bhd rose seven sen to 62 sen, Cypark Resources Bhd increased 6.5 sen to 65 sen, Zen Tech International Bhd added one sen to 3.5 sen, Borneo Oil Bhd was flat at two sen, Top Glove Corp Bhd slipped 1.5 sen to 89.5 sen, and Citaglobal Bhd slid one sen to 34.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 2.64 points to 10,632.33, the FBMT 100 Index declined 5.92 points to 10,342.42, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 1.32 points to 10,835.87.   

The FBM 70 Index was 21.39 points easier at 13,034.71, while the FBM ACE Index climbed 5.6 points to 5,377.9.   

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 8.88 points to 16,415.48, the Plantation Index decreased 74.64 points to 6,890.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.19 of-a-point to 181.67, and the Energy Index perked up 3.71 points to 777.59.

The Main Market volume slipped to 2.09 billion shares worth RM1.19 billion from Thursday's 2.28 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 279.76 million units worth RM61.91 million from 319.36 million units valued at RM71.90 million on Thursday.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 797.13 million shares worth RM363.43 million from 707.22 million shares worth RM287.34 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 245.91 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (698.11 million), construction (40.43 million), technology (703.6 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (32.17 million), property (86.13 million), plantation (23.92 million), REITs (70.4 million), closed/fund (19,000), energy (60.47 million), healthcare (113.28 million), telecommunications and media (16.61 million), transportation and logistics (34.31 million), and utilities (23.89 million).