Shares on Bursa Malaysia end marginally lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower today in range bound trading, with profit-taking seen largely in the small-capitalised stocks, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 0.07-of-a-point to end at 1,693.77 compared with Monday's close of 1,693.84.
After opening 2.74 points weaker at 1,691.10, the index moved between 1,690.64 and 1,697.25 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 625 to 317, while 312 counters were unchanged, 467 untraded and 47 others suspended.
Volume fell to 2.42 billion units worth RM2.89 billion from Monday's 2.90 billion units worth RM2.16 billion.
A dealer said the local bourse ended easier after trading lower in tight range in most of the trading session.
"There were continued selling pressure in the small-capitalised stocks while last minute buying on selected heavyweights failed to lift the index higher," he said.
Meanwhile, the regional markets were mixed as investors regained their appetite for Asian equities, lifted by fresh highs in US markets ahead of Trump's speech to Congress, another dealer said.
Regionally, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.77% to 23,740.73, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.06% to 19,118.99, South Korean Kospi's gained 0.29% to 2,091.64, and Singapore's Straits Times slid 0.39% to 3,099.18.
Of heavyweights, Public Bank gained two sen to RM19.96, Maybank shed two sen to RM8.60, Sime Darby fell 11 sen to RM8.96, Petronas Chemicals eased five sen to RM7.25, while TNB was flat at RM13.54.
Among actives, Hibiscus Petroleum shed 1.5 sen to 47 sen and JAKS Resources fell 15 sen to RM1.08 and Dagang Nexchange warrant added half-a-sen to 14 sen.
AT Systematization and its warrant were flat at four sen and three sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index rose 9.43 points to 11,950.28, the FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 12.55 points to 12,387.75, the FBMT100 Index added 16.15 points to 11,641.49 and the FBM 70 advanced 82.41 points to 13,936.09.
The FBM Ace decreased 40.72 points to 5,246.42.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index slipped 18.23 points to 15,026.34, the Industrial Index fell 27.48 points to 3,231.86 but Plantation Index added 3.61 points to 8,082.32.
Main Market turnover fell to 1.72 billion units, worth RM2.78 billion, versus Monday's 2.023 billion units valued at RM2.022 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 468.24 million shares valued at RM77.80 million from 681.05 million shares worth RM107.99 million previously.
Warrants also widened to 224.81 units worth RM29.18 million from 192.76 million units valued at RM29.60 million on Monday.
Consumer products accounted for 136.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (338.13 million), construction (198.07 million), trade and services (697.94 million), technology (64.38 million), infrastructure (20.66 million), SPAC (5.98 million), finance (88.05 million), hotels (353,500), properties (99.16 million), plantations (54.43 million), mining (8,000), REITs (18.04 million), and closed/fund (10,500).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM173.01 per gramme, down 2 sen from RM173.21 at 5pm yesterday.— Bernama