KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — The composite index on Bursa Malaysia retreated to close lower today, dampened by profit-taking activities following its recent gains, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,842.82, down 1.03 points from yesterday after fluctuating between 1,839.73 and 1,845.69 throughout the day.

Etiqa Insurance & Takaful Bhd Head of Research Chris Eng said the day’s selling activity was within expectation due to the market’s overbought situation.

“December usually witnesses a rally in plantation stocks because of the wet weather and this was but aggressive buying demand emerged to lift the market higher buoyed by the interest spurred in Tenaga Nasional Bhd following the announcement of new electricity tariffs.

“The earlier rally at the beginning of the month pushed the composite index to breach new highs on two consecutive days.

“And, against the backdrop of this overbought situation, the market came in for profit taking by investors,” he told Bernama.

Jitters on expectation that the Federal Reserve could soon begin scaling back its stimulus programme, ahead of the policy meeting next week, also influenced the day’s performance, he added.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index rose 24.42 points to 16,916.36, the Industrial Index gained 7.9 points to 3,115.42 but the Plantation Index fell 82.61 points to 8,993.56.

The FBM Ace added 1.59 points to 5,625.45 and the FBM 70 clinched 1.59 points to 14,186.28.

However, the FBM Emas Index slipped 1.51 points to 12,730.21 and the FBMT100 Index eased 1.1 points to 12,462.9.

Losers outnumbered gainers 420 to 334, with 333 counters unchanged, 475 untraded and 19 others were suspended.

Volume fell to 1.157 billion shares, worth RM2.077 billion, from yesterday’s 1.398 billion shares worth RM2.012 billion.

Among actives, Tiger Synergy inched up half-a-sen to 22.5 sen, Barakah Offshore gained two sen to RM1.52 while Sumatec Resources was flat at 29.5 sen.

Of heavyweights, Maybank advanced eight sen to RM10.08, TNB rose 28 sen to RM11.30, CIMB added one sen to RM7.71 and Sime Darby perked two sen to RM9.66.

However, Aviata Group was flat at RM6.74.

Volume on the Main Market decreased to the 854.155 million units, valued at RM2.001 billion, from 1.051 billion units, valued at RM1.924 billion, registered yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market shed to 207.866 million shares, worth RM51.674 million, from yesterday’s 280.218 million shares worth RM67.722 million.

Warrants advanced to 69.584 million units, valued at RM7.961 million, from 43.396 million units valued at RM5.934 million, registered previously.

Consumer products accounted for 40.919 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 96.875 million, construction 36.985 million, trade and services 416.5 million, technology 28.357 million, infrastructure 23.056 million, SPAC 18.918 million, finance 54.982 million, hotels 130,200, properties 95.64 million, plantations 27.538 million, mining 25,400, REITs 14.198 million and closed/fund 26,100. — Bernama