KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) reversed its earlier gains to close slightly lower today on late selling, mostly in selected blue-chips, and the weakening of the ringgit.

At 5pm, the key index finished at 1,811.12, down 0.46 of a point, after fluctuating between 1,808.69 and 1,816.62 throughout the day.

The local currency fell to 3.5780 against the US dollar today compared with yesterday’s close of 3.5415.

However, gains in small-capitalised stocks and oil and gas-related stocks helped mitigate further losses.

SapuraKencana rose 10 sen to RM2.93, UMW perked six sen to RM11.12, Perisai Petroleum advanced 10.5 sen to 63.5 sen, TH Heavy gained five sen to RM42 sen and Daya added one sen to 16 sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM 70 fell 18.57 points to 13,474.92, FBMT100 Index eased 6.15 points to 12,154.89, FBM Ace lost 24.94 points to 6,501.91 and FBM Emas Syariah Index declined 18.35 points to 12,980.81.

However, the FBM Emas Index gained 4.88 points to 12,469.38.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index rose 36.97 points to 15,915.65 and the Industrial Index earned 10.65 points to 3,280.62.

The Plantation Index trimmed 5.05 points to 8,013.23.

Overall, the market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers by 434 to 373, while 324 counters were unchanged, 592 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 2.47 billion units valued at RM2.29 billion from 2.12 billion units valued at RM1.94 billion on Monday. -- MORE ZAI ZAI THs Among actives, Sumatec and Eti Tech inched up half-a-sen each to 23 sen and seven sen respectively. Asia Bioenergy shed half-a-sen to 14.5 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose 10 sen to RM9.10 and Sime Darby rose three sen to RM9.56. Public Bank was flat at RM18.78. TNB fell two sen to RM14.86 and Axiata eased seven sen to RM7.10.

The Main Market volume widened to 1.89 billion shares valued at RM2.16 billion from 1.36 billion shares valued at RM1.75 billion on Monday.

Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 516.09 million shares worth RM116.08 million from yesterday’s 703.36 million shares worth RM175.19 million.

Warrants improved to 67.22 million units valued at RM12.52 million from 60.77 million units valued at RM14.31 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 177.13 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (230.64 million), construction (59.48 million), trade and services (1.05 billion), technology (165.82 million), infrastructure (17.85 million), SPAC (32.98 million), finance (39.09 million), hotels (1.31 million), properties (71.97 million), plantations (26.58 million), mining (9,000), REITs (12.29 million) and closed/fund (17,100). — Bernama