KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 0.30 per cent easier in cautious trade, reversing earlier gains on lack of buying momentum.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI settled at 1,656.50, down 5.03 points after fluctuating between 1,656.27 and 1,664.64 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 516 to 400 with 347 counters unchanged, 575 counters untraded and 14 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 2.41 billion units worth RM2.03 billion from yesterday’s 2.19 billion units worth RM2.04 billion.

A dealer said the lacklustre Bursa was in tandem with sentiment in most regional peers today, which took the cue from the US market which earlier ended almost flat after news of another bomb scare in Europe.

“Uncertainty over oil prices and the global market environment and another bomb scare in Europe hurt risk appetite and kept many investors away,” he said.

Top heavyweights Maybank and Tenaga eased six sen each to RM8.18 and RM13.02 respectively, while Public Bank fell 10.0 sen to RM18.00.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Instacom gained 3.5 sen to 26.5 sen, China Automobile added half-a-sen to 9.0 sen, iDimension shed half-a-sen each to 10.5 sen and Hibiscus declined 1.5 sen to 23.0 sen.

On the scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index lost 26.96 points to 11,555.32, the FBMT100 Index fell 28.90 points to 11,228.54, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 10.92 points to 12,490.66.

The FBM Ace gained 73.88 points to 6,593.85 while the FBM70 slipped 14.01 points to 12,864.09.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index dipped 71.53 points to 14,006.47, the Industrial Index declined 9.99 points to 3,274.39, while the Plantation Index trimmed 9.01 points to 7,480.18 Main Market volume expanded to 1.39 billion units valued at RM1.82 billion, from 1.34 billion units valued at RM1.86 billion transacted on Tuesday.

Turnover on the ACE Market improved to 743.30 million shares worth RM166.53 million from Tuesday’s 603.39 million shares worth RM139.74 million.

Warrants rose to 283.10 million units valued at RM38.72 million against 243.99 million units valued at RM39.25 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 141.63 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (450.48 million), construction (67.77 million), trade and services (464.40 million), technology (84.37 million), infrastructure (12.38 million), SPAC (12.86 million), finance (38.81 million), hotels (1.05 million), properties (92.36 million), plantations (14.48 million), mining (5,500), REITs (8.30 million) and closed/fund (7,500). — Bernama