Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the day mixed due to persistent selling pressure on small-cap stocks.

However, gains in heavyweights pushed the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) 3.6 points higher to 1,859.34 points, after hovering between 1,852.27 points and 1,859.34 points.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said on top of ongoing consolidation in the bigcaps, trading sentiment on lower liners and penny stocks are likely to be affected by the gradual rise in unusual market activity (UMA) queries lately.

Yesterday, three small-cap counters, namely Industronics, Visdynamics Holdings and MNC Wireless, were queried by Bursa Malaysia over the limit down of the company's shares.

A dealer said the selling pressure was also triggered by investors viewing the lower liners as relatively expensive compared with the bigcaps.

Among actives, Visdynamics fell 19.5 sen to 27.5 sen, China Stationery depreciated 2.0 sen to 14 sen, PDZ Holdings eased half-a-sen to 15 sen but 1 Utopia rose half-a-sen to 7.5 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank gained 8.0 sen to RM9.72, TNB added 6.0 sen to RM11.90, Axiata appreciated 1.0 sen to RM6.68 while CIMB lost 1.0 sen to RM7.48 and Public Bank was flat at RM20.16.

Market breadth was extremely negative as losers led gainers 728 to 192 while 256 counters were unchanged, 453 untraded and 29 others suspended.

Turnover was higher at 2.5 billion shares worth RM2.2 billion from yesterday's 2.16 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion.

On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index advanced 20.27 points to 3,161.98, the Finance Index improved 28.92 points to 17,046.96 and the Plantation Index rose 20.68 points to 8,985.33.

The FBM Emas Index shed 2.61 points to 12,877.21, the FBM 70 fell 44.89 points to 14,071.52 and the Ace Index lost 186.03 points to 6,568.12, but the FBMT100 Index was 9.89 points better at 12,527.02.

Main Market volume was higher at 1.73 billion units worth RM2.04 billion from 1.53 billion units worth RM1.63 billion recorded on Monday.

Turnover on the ACE market rose to 717.26 million shares valued at RM146.69 million from 565.57 million shares valued at RM94.35 million recorded yesterday.

Warrants widened to 40.46 million units worth RM4.34 million from Monday's 33.51 million units worth RM4.72 million.

Consumer products accounted for 194.21 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 229.54 million, construction 95.47 million, trade and services 585.18 million, technology 97.97 million, infrastructure 12.96 million, SPAC 23 million, finance 51.61 million, hotels 6.74 million, properties 394.23 million, plantations 34.06 million, mining 135,000, REITs 9.34 million and closed/fund 21,000.

-- Bernama