KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on post window-dressing profit-taking amid a quiet trading day as most traders were on holidays, a dealer said.

At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 8.48 points to 1,752.77 after moving between 1,741.45 and 1,757.96 through the day.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew said profit-taking dominated the market on selected blue-chips counters as traders booked profit from the recent gains during window-dressing activities.

“Furthermore, many traders are still on holiday. Trading was quiet the whole day with total volume just slightly over one billion units,” he told Bernama. He said the market is expected to pick up once traders return to the market.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index lost 30.431 points to 12,035.85, the FBMT100 Index 35.91 points to 11,776.58 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index 42.271 points to 12,464.76, while the FBM 70 added 41.99 points to 13,107.07 and the FBM Ace rose 56.69 points to 5,710.08.

On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index fell 76.28 points to 7,810.85, the Finance Index 42.409 points to 15,661.94 and the Industrial Index 22.36 points to 3,156.74.

Gainers outpaced losers by 393 to 311 while 287 counters were unchanged, 748 untraded and nine suspended.

Total volume declined to 1.07 billion units worth RM921.63 million from 1.35 billion units worth RM1.61 billion on Wednesday.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost 5 sen to RM9.12, Public Bank fell 8 sen RM18.22, Axiata eased 3 sen to RM7.02 and Sime Darby fell 12 sen to RM9.07. TNB was flat at RM13.80.

Among actives, Malayan United Industries added 2 sen to 32 sen, Pan Malaysia and Jobstreet gained 3 sen each to 36.5 sen and 50 sen respectively, and Minetech and Sumatec earned 0.5 sen each to 12.5 sen and 21 sen respectively.

Main Market volume declined to 807.99 million shares worth RM857.71 million from Wednesday’s 1.07 billion shares worth RM1.55 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market contracted to 158.66 million shares valued at RM33.14 million against 179.8 million shares valued at RM38.35 million previously.

Warrants increased to 108 million units worth RM30.29 million from 99.93 million units worth RM20.26 million on Wednesday.

Consumer products accounted for 72.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 146.89 million, construction 37.45 million, trade and services 379.48 million, technology 13.8 million, infrastructure 7.66 million, SPAC 9.52 million, finance 23.02 million, hotels 6.04 million, properties 92.37 million, plantations 14.09 million, mining 25,000, REITs 4.64 million, and closed/fund 11,000. — Bernama