KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 5): The FBM KLCI remained range-bound today, hovering between 1,723.22 and 1,729.91, as traders’ sentiment stays cautious.

At market close, the benchmark index settled at 1,725.56 points, up 1.83 points or 0.11%.

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong told theedgemarkets.com that traders opted to stay on the side lines today even after Malaysia’s June export data show some 5% on-year growth.

“Latest economic data show that trading is still intact, but market does not seem to react on that, [it] shows that it is still shadowed by cautious sentiment. The biggest issue is still the ringgit,” he said.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry today announced that Malaysia’s exports in June 2015 grew 5% to RM64.26 billion from a year ago.

Across the market, some 1.22 billion shares worth RM1.39 billion were traded. There were 383 gainers versus 388 losing counters, while 334 counters remained unchanged.

Top gainers were led by Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, while British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd led the losing counters.

The most actively traded counter was Globaltec Formation Bhd, which saw 52.11 million shares traded throughout the day.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.46%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.44%, while South Korea’s Kospi increased a marginal 0.09%.

Reuters reported that Asian share markets were in a mixed mood on Wednesday as the mounting risks of a hike in US interest rates as early as next month have lifted the dollar and bond yields, pressuring currencies across the region.

Meanwhile, the ringgit has weakened further to RM3.8777 against US dollar at the time of writing, and to RM2.8010 against the Singapore dollar.