KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Bursa Malaysia ended mixed on Monday (Feb 14) on continuous buying support in financial services, plantation and oil and gas stocks amid a weaker regional market performance, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 4.95 points to 1,583.84 from 1,578.89 at Friday's close.

The barometer index, which opened 1.9 points lower at 1,576.99, moved between 1,575.1 and 1,585.08 throughout the session.

The overall market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 598 to 386, while 375 counters were unchanged, 850 untraded, and 22 others suspended.

Total turnover slipped marginally to 3.18 billion units worth RM2.49 billion against 3.19 billion units worth RM2.42 billion last Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices closed mostly lower as investors were cautious due to heightened political tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

"As for the local bourse, we reckon investor sentiment will also be cautious in the short term due to the increased regional market volatility as a result of the political tensions.

"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to hover within the 1,575 to 1,590 range for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,600 and support at 1,570," Thong told Bernama.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.4% to 3,415.17, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.23% to 27,079.59, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 1.41% to 24,556.57.

Back home, heavyweights IOI Corp Bhd rose 12 sen to RM4.14, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added six sen to RM5.61, Hong Leong Bank Bhd advanced 26 sen to RM20.26, Dialog Group Bhd firmed nine sen to RM2.86, and Maxis Bhd inched up five sen to RM4.48.

As for the actives, KNM Group Bhd shed half-a-sen to 18 sen, SMTrack Bhd inched up one sen to 20.5 sen, AHB Holdings Bhd improved 5.5 sen to 21.5 sen, and Dagang NeXchange Bhd gained six sen to RM1.15.

On the index board, the FBM ACE weakened 95.45 points to 6,249.5, FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 17.62 points to 12,022.77, and the FBM 70 declined 121.23 points to 13,660.06.

Meanwhile, the FBMT 100 Index put on 5.32 points to 11,006.05 and the FBM Emas Index rose 1.3 points to 11,321.72.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 86.71 points to 16,383.36, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.51 of-a-point to 210.43, and the Plantation Index climbed 70.94 points to 7,285.36.

The Main Market volume improved to 2.14 billion shares worth RM2.22 billion versus 1.99 billion shares worth RM2.19 billion last Friday.

Warrants turnover shrank to 294.65 million units worth RM33.86 million from 363.3 million units worth RM44.75 million previously.

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 742.22 million shares valued at RM232.48 million against 837.69 million shares valued at RM182.82 million last Friday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 436.46 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (471.01 million), construction (87.52 million), technology (299.88 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (65.42 million), property (116.55 million), plantation (92.19 million), REITs (81.18 million), closed/fund (33,500), energy (430.87 million), healthcare (47.99 million), telecommunications and media (19.51 million), transportation and logistics (35.26 million), and utilities (26.13 million).