KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday’s gains to finish lower today, as profit-taking capped the uptrend in the local market, said an analyst.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 12.09 points lower at 1,669.45, after moving between 1,661.56 and 1,684.40 throughout the day.

Gainers led losers by 482 to 384, while 275 counters were unchanged, 684 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Volume eased to 2.03 billion units valued at RM2.63 billion from 2.24 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion recorded on Thursday.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) refrained from raising interest rates, the overall sentiment in the local bourse led to a brief profit taking across the board.

“However, we do not know how long the Fed would hold the interest rate. This leaves the possibility of a rate hike later this year, as there are two more policy meetings on Oct 27-28 and Dec 15-16,” he told Bernama.

Another dealer said the Fed’s decision to maintain key interest rate to near zero renewed concerns about the global growth outlook and financial market volatility.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 1.96 per cent to 18,070.21, Singapore’s Straits Times Index decreased 0.56 per cent to 2,879.59 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.30 per cent to 21,920.83.

The FBM 70 was 22.69 points higher at 12,400.48, FBM Ace added 7.01 points to 5,469.95, FBM Emas Index fell 51.50 points to 11,477.27, FBMT100 Index declined 57.68 points to 11,198.86 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 59.93 points to 12,049.27.

The Finance Index went up 0.35 of-a-point to 14,556.72, Plantation Index slid 74.97 points to 7,108.62 and the Industrial Index fell 72.35 points to 3,124.04.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added six sen to RM8.70, Public Bank gained 14 sen to RM18.52, TNB edged up four sen to RM12.22 while Axiata eased five sen to RM6.24.

Among top losers, Batu Kawan fell 86 sen to RM16.44, Sime Darby trimmed 71 sen to RM7.37, United Plantations contracted 58 sen to RM26.22 and BAT fell 50 sen to RM62.30.

Main Market volume reduced to 1.32 billion units worth RM2.44 billion against Thursday’s 1.42 billion units worth RM2.95 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market expanded to 330.88 milion units valued at RM104.86 million from 291.72 million units valued at RM68.59 million previously.

Warrants gave up 376.81 million units worth RM81.44 million from Thursday’s 529.15 million units worth RM118.64 million.

Consumer products accounted for 67.08 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (241.08 million), construction (71.84 million), trade and services (588.18 million), technology (30.66 million), infrastructure (19.53 million), SPAC (20.10 million), finance (67.59 million), hotel (2.53 million), properties (141.86 million), plantations (41.14 million), mining (19,000), REITs (30.35 million) and closed/fund (44,300). — Bernama