KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended easier today on mild profit-taking in selected blue chips following recent gains, a dealer said.    

The benchmark FBM KLCI closed 3.4 points lower at 1,847.5 after fluctuating between 1,841.66 and 1,849.43 throughout the day.

Profit-taking was seen in Petronas Chemicals, which fell nine sen to RM6.74, CIMB lost eight sen to RM7.64, Maxis erased eight sen to RM7.12 and Axiata Group declined seven sen to RM6.70.

However, gains in Petronas Gas and Maybank, which rose 74 sen and eight sen to RM23.94 and RM10.10, respectively, helped limit losses.

JF Apex Securities Head of Research Lee Chung Cheng said yesterday’s gains, which saw the key index mark a new high of 1,851.94, sparked some selling interest today.

He said the local market was also cautious with market players staying on the sidelines as all focus shifted to the on-going Federal Reserve policy meeting.

“They are awaiting the outcome from the meeting rather than making any major positions.

“However, the results would only bring minor impact to the market as fund managers have already shuffled their portfolios. They are prepared for this,” he told Bernama.

Lee said the immediate resistance stood at the 1,900 points level while support was seen at 1,826 points level.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index advanced 13.68 points to 16,883.68, the Industrial Index soared 20.53 points to 3,140 but the Plantation Index gave up 88.71 points to 8,946.69.

The FBM Emas Index declined 30.49 points to 12,728.24, FBMT100 Index erased 28.97 points to 12,463.9, the FBM 70 lost 57.65 points to 14,060.86 and the FBM Ace fell 39.37 points to 5,626.87.

Losers thumped gainers 433 to 326, with 313 counters unchanged, 495 untraded and 29 others were suspended.

Volume increased to 1.085 billion shares, worth RM1.632 billion, from yesterday’s 1.081 billion shares, worth RM1.545 billion. — Bernama