Bursa Malaysia ends lower on profit-taking, CI down 0.09%
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on profit-taking activities in selected blue chips and in tandem with the weaker sentiment on regional bourses, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 1.49 points or 0.09% lower at 1,681.60 from Friday's close of 1,683.09 points.
It opened 3.85 points weaker at 1,679.24 and moved between 1,677.70 and 1,685.18 throughout the day.
A dealer said weak external factors, particularly lower commodity prices, including that of crude oil, increased oil production by Iraq as well as uncertainty over the freeze over oil production among producers weighed on market sentiment.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, dropped 60 US cents or 1.2% to US$49.32 a barrel.
Meanwhile, on regional market, Singapore's Straits Times dropped 0.92% to 2,831.24, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.38% to 22,821.34 and South Korea's Kospi Index lost 0.25% to 2,032.35.
Back home, on the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 10.67 points to 11,790.75, FBMT100 Index lost 9.62 points to 11,504.96 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 22.15 points lower at 12,417.79.
The FBM 70 fell 9.22 points to 13,566.94 and the FBM Ace fell 53.64 points to 5,316.60.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index, however, was 12.39 points higher at 14,458.66 but Industrial Index declined 7.54 points to 3,145.74 while the Plantation Index was down 20.01 points at 7,786.66.
Losers outpaced gainers 513 to 314 while 358 counters were unchanged, 528 untraded and 56 others were suspended.
Volume stood at 1.486 billion units, worth RM1.43 billion, against Friday's 1.492 billion units worth RM1.39 billion.
Of heavyweights, Public Bank added eight sen to RM19.78, CIMB Group rose 10 sen to RM4.80, Petronas Chemicals eased two sen to RM6.68 but Maxis declined five sen to RM6.33.
Among actives, AirAsia X, Borneo Oil and Vivocom increased half-a-sen each to 38.5 sen, 18 sen and 28.5 sen, respectively.
Bumi Armada fell four sen to 72.5 sen and Iris Corporation slid 1.5 sen to 16 sen.
Main Market turnover shed to 925.65 million shares, worth RM1.35 billion from Friday's 968.97 billion units worth RM1.3 billion.
The ACE Market volume increased to 242.55 million units, valued at RM45.42 million, from 195.96 million shares valued at RM46.82 million.
Warrants shrank to 290.79 million shares, worth RM37.73 million, from 326.28 million units worth RM42.45 million, previously.
Consumer products accounted for 79.92 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (124.33 million), construction (73.93 million), trade and services (638.29 million), technology (36.83 million), infrastructure (21.44 million), SPAC (764,043 million), finance (206.78 million), hotels (108,726), properties (76.04 million), plantations (74.29 million), mining (123,93), REITs (15.87 million) and closed/fund (40,022).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM166.13 per gramme, up 60 sen from RM165.53 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama