Bursa Malaysia ends lower on profit-taking

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower today after recent gains, in line with most regional peers, on profit-taking in selected heavyweights, consumer and technology counters, dealers said.
At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.79 points weaker to end at 1,786.07 after moving between 1,785.50 and 1,793.22.
It opened 0.48 of-a-point weaker at 1,789.38 against Tuesday's close of 1,789.86.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers by 480 to 385 with 387 counters unchanged, 581 untraded and 26 others suspended.
Volume shrank to 2.70 billion units worth RM1.85 billion from 3.66 billion units valued at RM2.26 billion on Tuesday.
Among the top losers, Nestle dipped 48 sen to RM85, Genting Malaysia fell 15 sen to RM5.75, Hartalega declined 31 sen to RM6.39, Dutch Lady shed 30 sen to RM59 while Globetronics went down 23 sen to RM6.34.
Having touched fresh 10-year highs benefiting from record highs on Wall Street, several emerging market indices heavyweights in Asia had retreated, particularly Apple-related stocks, a dealer said.
Unveiling its iPhone X on Tuesday at US$999 (US$1 = RM4.19), Apple, however, said that the new model would not ship until November, despite new iPhone models usually going on sale at end-September.
The dealer said investors were also concerned over the re-emergence of possible tensions on the Korean peninsula, as US President Donald Trump recently described United Nations sanctions on North Korea as a "very small step".
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.45% to 19,865.82, Hong Kong's Hang Seng eased 0.29% to 27,89.95, South Korea's Kospi shed 0.22% to 2,360.18 while the Singapore Straits Times index decreased 0.22% to 3,228.73.
For heavyweights, Maybank and TNB were flat at RM9.70 and RM14.58, respectively, Public Bank eased four sen to RM20.58 while Sime Darby improved one sen to RM9.14.
Among active counters, D.B.E. Gurney earned half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, Sino Hua-An added 1.5 sen to 25.5 sen, Trive Property advanced two sen to 13 sen while MQ Technology slipped one sen to 7.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 39.28 points lower at 12,708.45, FBMT 100 Index contracted 41.56 points to 12,370.27 and the FBM Ace reduced 15.03 points to 6,727.02.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index lost 27.68 points to 12,920.35 while the FBM 70 dropped 108.79 points to 15,165.40.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 37.61 points to 7,984.57, Industrial Index shed 2.75 points to 3,239.50 and the Finance Index declined 26.18 points to 16,816.73.
The Main Market volume increased to 1.77 billion shares worth RM1.67 billion from 1.44 billion shares worth RM1.96 billion on Tuesday.
Volume on the ACE Market dwindled to 783.61 million units valued at RM158.31 million from 2.04 billion units worth RM275.96 million yesterday.
Warrants fell to 134.75 million shares worth RM17.11 million from 176.47 million shares worth RM22.55 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 286.68 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (464.15 million), construction (86.32 million), trade and services (512.19 million), technology (207.53 million), infrastructure (3.40 million), SPAC (221,200), finance (39.23 million), hotels (5.62 million), properties (128.59 million), plantations (36.36 million), mining (67,200), REITs (3.70 million), and closed/fund (7,900).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM173.67 per gramme, up 14 sen from RM173.53 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama