Bursa Malaysia ends lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the day lower on the back of subdued demand due to lack of catalysts to drive trading, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at 1,629.59 points, 4.93 points weaker against Tuesday's close of 1,634.52, after moving between 1,629.59 and 1,639.49 throughout the day.
The index opened 4.30 points higher at 1,638.82.
Losers edged gainers 369 to 353 with 345 counters unchanged, 692 untraded and 26 suspended.
Volume decreased to 1.15 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion from 1.28 billion shares valued at RM1.41 billion on Tuesday.
Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd Research Head Edmund Tham said it is normal to expect a quiet market and a thinner volume towards the year-end as most fund managers have gone for holidays.
"However, I believe the weakening ringgit, which is at its lowest level against the US dollar since 1998, has somewhat limited the market upside amid increased oil prices," he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4770/4820 against the US dollar.
Brent, the international crude benchmark, was trading at 0.72% higher at US$55.75 a barrel.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM7.87 and Sime Darby shed seven sen to RM8.06 but TNB rose four sen to RM13.76 and Public Bank gained two sen to RM19.74.
Of the actives, Hibiscus Petroleum added half-a-sen to 38.5 sen, Sapura Kencana Petroleum expanded seven sen to RM1.68 while Borneo Oil and KNM Group each recovered one sen to 16.5 sen and 34.5 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index eased 18.52 points to 11,414.78, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 20.37 points to 11,134.85 but the FBM 70 enhanced 26.93 points to 13,081.06.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 8.78 points to 11,986.41 but the FBM Ace added 6.28 points to 4,809.55.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 52.70 points to 14,268.24, the Plantation Index lost 11.00 points to 7,711.79 and the Industrial Index lessened 6.13 points to 3,088.67.
Main Market turnover shrank to 821.26 million units worth RM1.49 billion from 888.66 million units valued at RM1.34 billion recorded on Tuesday.
The ACE Market volume narrowed to 171.05 million shares worth RM29.93 million from 243.65 million shares valued at RM36.22 million previously.
Warrants widened to 164.98 million units worth RM35.52 million from 152.51 million units valued at RM32.23 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 64.29 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (233.28 million), construction (48.64 million), trade and services (337.51 million), technology (26.44 million), infrastructure (6.69 million), SPAC (4.32 million), finance (43.75 million), hotels (131,200), properties (31.23 million), plantations (11.78 million), mining (nil), REITs (13.07 million) and closed/fund (60,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM157.84 per gramme, up 6 sen from RM157.78 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama