KL shares end 1.78 pts lower on profit-taking

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower today as profit-taking activity emerged among heavyweight stocks, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,719.47, down 1.78 points, from last Friday's close of 1,721.25.
The market bellwether, which opened 0.32 of-a-point lower at 1,720.93, fluctuated within a 7.44-point range of between 1,720.93 and 1,718.30, throughout the day.
However, market breadth turned positive at the close with gainers outpacing decliners 444 to 409, while 372 counters were unchanged, 627 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Total volume slid 1.65 billion shares worth RM1.97 billion from 1.83 billion units valued at RM2.48 billion last Friday.
An equity dealer said investors took profit after Bursa Malaysia's firm performance at the end of last week, as well, as a funds adjustments ahead of the widely-anticipated year-end window dressing and consolidation mode.
"It's common to see mild profit-taking after a week's rally. The local equity market can still potentially trade higher, in tandem with the bullish Wall Street.
"Traders have started projecting the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) to approach 25,000 by year-end," he added.
The DJIA, the key US equity index, hit a record high on Friday, rising 118 points to close at the 24,329 point-level, after a strong jobs report.
Another dealer said local sentiment, such as a pre-election rally, as well as Malaysia's sustained positive trade performance, may prompt new buying interest on the local equity mart.
Data released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry last week showed Malaysia's total trade in October 2017 surging 19.8 % year-on-year to RM154.26 billion, with exports rising 18.9 % to RM82.41 billion, and the momentum may continue into the following months.
Of the heavyweights today, top weighted Maybank and Tenaga, both declined two sen today at RM9.25 and RM15.50 respectively. Public Bank was flat at RM20.02.
Buying interest in Hong Leong Bank kept the key index supported. As the leading mover on the FBM KLCI components, Hong Leong Bank chalked up 36 sen to RM16.36. Meanwhile, Sime Darby Bhd led the laggards with its six sen decline to RM2.12.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 11.00 points to 12,356.40, the FBMT100 Index rose 6.08 points to 12,025.87 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 29.12 points to 12,820.44.
The FBM 70 bagged 72.87 points to 15,183.13 and the FBM Ace improved 23.57 points to 6,255.98.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index gained 19.46 points to 16,008.50, but the Industrial Index declined 11.75 points to 3,137.56 and the Plantation Index trimmed 20.62 points to 7,835.46.
Among actives, PUC improved 1.5 sen to 23 sen, Borneo Oil was up half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, Sapura Energy bagged two sen to 85 sen and Green Packet rose 5.5 sen to 50.5 sen.
Main Market volume fell to 1.04 billion units worth RM1.86 billion from 1.29 billion units worth RM2.40 billion on Friday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 419.15 million shares valued at RM81.46 million from 336.78 million shares valued at RM57.70 million.
Warrants volume declined to 181.10 million units worth RM24.18 million from 210.0 million units worth RM21.54 million.
Consumer products accounted for 40.63 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (185.19 million), construction (54.62 million), trade and services (441.49 million), technology (105.76 million), infrastructure (5.70 million), SPAC (15.19 million), finance (44.02 million), hotels (1.75 million), properties (110.51 million), plantations (27.61 million), mining (20,000), REITs (4.66 million), and closed/fund (12,700).
The physical price of gold as at 5.00pm stood at RM158.46/g, up two sen from RM158.44 at 5.00pm last friday. — Bernama