KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed in the red across the board as investors locked in profits after the benchmark index hit the 1,800-point level, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,798.69, down 8.47 points from yesterday’s close, after moving between 1,795.1 and 1,814.73 throughout the day.

It opened 2.36 points lower today at 1,804.8, from yesterday’s close of 1,807.16, near the all-time high of 1,818.93 posted on Oct 24.

Mercury Securities Research Head Edmund Tham said the market moved in tandem with key regional markets due to overnight losses on Wall Street.

“The equities were trading lower due to weak global cues and profit-booking by investors after yesterday strong gains,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.33 per cent to 15,076.08, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.71 per cent to 2,017.24 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.25 per cent to 3,184.23.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said investors were essentially in a cautious mood pending the release of the US Federal Reserve’s October 29 and 30 meeting minutes later tonight.

The release may give additional insights into the possible timing of an unwinding of the bond purchases programme, it said.

Back home, the Finance Index fell 91.699 points to 16,410.55, the Plantation Index declined 44.021 points to 8,929.84 and the Industrial Index was 14.65 points lower at 3,138.09.

The FBM Emas Index dipped 56.96 points to 12,519.78, the FBMT100 Index declined 55.69 points to 12,245.97, the FBM Ace fell 64.02 points to 5,617.5 and the FBM 70 slipped 56.69 points to 14,276.38.

Losers led gainers 562 to 246 with 327 counters unchanged, 458 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Total turnover declined to 1.8 billion shares worth RM2.31 billion from 1.82 billion shares valued at RM2.59 billion yesterday.

Among actives, Patimas Computers fell 2.5 sen to one sen, Malaysia Airlines fell one sen to 31.5 sen but Sumatec gained half a sen to 34 sen.

Of the top losers, British American Tobacco fell RM1.38 to RM62.08, Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 74 sen to RM24.00 and Nestle decreased 60 sen to RM68.80.

As for the heavyweights, Maybank slipped nine sen to RM9.56, Sime Darby fell six sen to RM9.69 and Axiata lost four sen to RM6.73.

Volume on the Main Market rose to 1.44 billion shares worth RM2.25 billion from 1.28 billion shares valued at RM2.5 billion transacted yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market decreased to 308.66 million shares worth RM57.87 million from 448.81 million shares valued at RM75.31 million recorded on Tuesday.

Warrants rose to 40.13 million shares valued at RM4.58 million from 69.65 million shares worth RM6.84 million registered previously.

Consumer products accounted for 131 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 173 million, construction 38.52 million, trade and services 531.14 million, technology 207 million, infrastructure 24.05 million, SPAC 21.13 million, finance 79 million, hotels 1.59 million, properties 191.43 million, plantations 33.09 million, mining 25,700, REITs 7.1 million and closed/fund 62,000. — Bernama