KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled the day lower on lack of catalysts to drive the market.         

At 5pm, the key index finished at 1,781.75, down 5.12 points after fluctuating between 1,781.75 and 1,789.36 throughout the day.

Of the heavyweights, TNB was flat at RM14.64, Maybank declined two sen to RM9.10, Public Bank and Axiata eased six sen each to RM18.34 and RM7.03 respectively while Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.25.

Among the most actively-traded stocks, Sumatec rose 4.5 sen to 25 sen, Nexgram edged up half-a-sen to 12 sen but Genetec Technology and Wintoni eased 2.5 sen each to 21 sen and 37 sen respectively. 

Market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers by 471 to 372 with 308 counters unchanged, 616 untraded and 10 others suspended.

Total volume was slightly higher at 2.96 billion shares worth RM1.82 billion from 2.94 billion shares worth RM2.18 billion yesterday. 

The FBM Emas Index shed 40.11 points to 12,285.05, the FBMT100 Index depreciated 42.45 points to 11,966.49 and the FBM Ace fell 13.86 points to 7,080.73.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 47.61 points lower at 12,878.89 and the FBM 70 decreased 78.31 points to 13,299.4.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index fell 23.7 points to 3,262.45, the Plantation Index went down 16.5 points to 7,770.79 and the Finance Index slid 11 points to 15,858.72.  

Main Market volume decreased to 1.37 billion units worth RM1.55 billion from 1.43 billion units worth RM1.87 billion yesterday.         

Turnover on the ACE Market was higher at 1.49 billion shares valued at RM255.41 million compared to yesterday’s 1.40 billion shares valued at RM292.72 million.

Warrants depreciated to 84.76 million units worth RM13.14 million from 102.49 million units worth RM16.85 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 111.51 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (224.74 million), construction (61.27 million), trade and services (701.08 million), technology (99.93 million), infrastructure (10.81 million), SPAC (32.85 million), finance (39.68 million), hotels (3.91 million), properties (70.96 million), plantations (13.14 million), mining (67,400), REITs (5.52 million) and closed/fund (7,100). — Bernama