Bursa Malaysia ends lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday weighed down by losses on Maybank and Axiata amid profit- taking in small- capitalised ( small cap) and penny stocks.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) eased 1.76 points to close at 1,682.06 points against Wednesday’s close of 1,682.06 points.

It opened 2.26 points weaker at 1,679.80 points and moved between 1,687.43 points and 1,678.27 points throughout the day.

Maybank lost nine sen to RM7.90 and Axiata fell 18 sen to RM5.49.

Overseas, he said, the sentiment was dampened by the lower oil prices due to the rise in US crude inventories and worries over an eventual US interest rate increase.

Global crude oil benchmark, Brent, fell 15 US cents to US$ 48.90 a barrel.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 21.9 points to 11,775.6, FBMT100 Index lost 19.569 points to 11,489.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 12.42 points lower at 12,418.14.

The FBM 70 shed 50.38 points to 13,524.83 and the FBM Ace declined 113.12 points to 5,304.78.

Sector- wise, the Finance Index fell 45.26 points to 14,415.45 and the Plantation Index was down 45.01 points to 7,795.75.

The Industrial Index gained 9.29 points to 3,152.99.

Losers outpaced gainers by 523 to 297, while 379 counters were unchanged, 488 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Volume fell to 1.74 billion units worth RM1.89 billion from Wednesday’s 1.93 billion units worth RM1.77 billion.Of the heavyweights, IHH added three sen to RM6.65, Public Bank lost two sen to RM19.74 and TNB was flat at RM14.74.

Among actives, AirAsia X lost two sen to 39.5 sen, FGV fell 17 sen to RM2.11, Vivocom slipped 1.5 sen to 27 sen and AirAsia fell 18 sen to RM2.86.

Hibiscus Petroleum was flat at 20 sen.

Main Market turnover fell to 1.13 billion units worth RM1.79 billion from Wednesday’s 1.20 billion units worth RM1.65 billion.

The ACE Market volume decreased to 292.13 million units valued at RM46.23 million from yesterday’s 292.89 million shares valued at RM57.62 million.

Warrants declined to 314.14 million units worth RM46.06 million from 433.47 million units worth RM64.37 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 74.66 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 192.22 million), construction ( 50.40 million), trade and services ( 441.77 million), technology ( 62.69 million), infrastructure ( 7.49 million), SPAC ( 127.55 million), finance ( 47.32 million), hotels ( 215,700), properties ( 57.80 million), plantations ( 59.91 million), mining ( 110,800), REITs ( 11.81 million) and closed/ fund ( nil). — Bernama