KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed weaker amid continued selling pressure on selected plantation and palm oil stocks, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index stood at 1,849.21, down 1.52 points, after hovering between 1,839.03 and 1,852.29 throughout the day.

Plantation stock Kuala Lumpur Kepong dipped 72 sen or 2.89 per cent to RM24.20 after opening weaker at RM24.90.

Meanwhile, a dealer said most Asian stocks were higher in a cautious start to the week, with investors holding out hope that China would take steps to stimulate its economy.

“China’s Premier Li Keqiang has sought to reassure jittery global investors that the country is ready to support the cooling economy,” he said.

Li said the Chinese government has the necessary policies in place and would push ahead with infrastructure investment, the dealer added.

Gainers outpaced losers 408 to 384, while 315 counters were unchanged, 517 untraded and 30 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 1.94 billion shares worth RM2.38 billion from 1.8 billion shares valued at RM2.03 billion on Friday.

On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index shed 12.51 points to 3,192.12, the Plantation Index fell 77.91 points to 8,960.22 but the Finance Index added 22.19 points to 16,6630.83.

The FBM Emas Index surged 9.72 points to 12,797.64, the FBMT100 Index rose 7.71 points to 12,457.97, the FBM 70 added 78.68 points to 13,990391 but the FBM Ace declined 37.34 points to 6,661.3.

Among actives, R&A Telecommunication eased half a sen to 4.5 sen, Xidelang slipped two sen to 28.5 sen, while Malaysian Airline System earned half a sen to 21 sen and Insas added four sen to RM1.25.

As for heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM9.68, Axiata rose one sen to RM6.67 while Tenaga and CIMB lost two sen each to RM11.96 and RM7.15, respectively.              

Main market volume advanced to 1.49 billion units valued at RM2.25 billion from 1.41 billion units worth RM1.89 billion on Friday.

Turnover on the ACE market increased to 383.3 million shares worth RM102.62 million from last week’s 293.47 million shares valued at RM89.58 million.

Warrants slipped to 65.2 million units valued at RM20.29 million from 96.23 million units worth RM46.35 million on Friday. 

Consumer products accounted for 163.08 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 213.61 million, construction 65.75 million, trade and services 585.99 million, technology 92.62 million, infrastructure 15.19 million, SPAC 12.95 million, finance 121.65 million, hotels 1 million, properties 191.98 million, plantations 17.67 million, mining 56,000, REITs 6.76 million and closed/fund 5,000. — Bernama