KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Bursa Malaysia closed sharply lower today weighed by losses in oil and gas-related counters amid weaker global oil prices, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 19.88 points to 1,633.30 from its close yesterday of 1,653.18, after opening 16.52 points lower at 1,636.66 in the morning.

Topping the losers list, Shell Refining Company fell RM1.26 to RM3.68 per share, followed by Petronas Gas, which shed 88 sen to RM22.02. Petronas Dagangan lost 64 sen to RM25.24.

Brent, the benchmark index for crude oil, declined to around US$32 per barrel in overnight trade from US$34 per barrel the previous day.

Among heavyweights, Maybank eased 10 sen to RM8.44, TNB fell 22 sen to RM13.12 and Petronas Chemicals slipped 8 sen to RM6.98. Public Bank gained 4 sen to RM18.38 and IHH added 1 sen to RM6.57.

Among actives, Comfort Gloves rose 8 sen to 92.5 sen while Sanichi and Metronic were flat at 6.5 sen and 7 sen respectively. Tiger Synergy eased 0.5 sen to 8 sen while XOX declined 1 sen to 20 sen.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 481 to 325 with 297 counters unchanged, 623 counters untraded and 16 others suspended. Total volume fell to 1.48 billion shares worth RM1.8 billion from 1.61 billion shares worth RM2.55 billion yesterday.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 116.68 points to 11,382.39, FBMT100 Index eased 121.54 points to 11,085.51 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 118.9 points to 12,205.84. The FBM 70 decreased 91.87 points to 12,752.45 while the FBM Ace shed 5.13 points to 5,881.17.

On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index fell 41.27 points to 7,706.59, Industrial Index lost 64.15 points to 3,185.58 and the Finance Index edged down 156.729 points to 13,708.99.

Main Market volume fell to 964.79 million units worth RM1.7 billion from the 1.12 billion units worth RM2.44 billion yesterday. Turnover on the ACE Market rose to 269.23 million shares valued at RM53.35 million from 221.27 million shares valued at RM55.87 million. Warrants decreased to 254.82 million units worth RM46.46 million from 269.56 million units worth RM46.21 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 118.66 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (226.96 million), construction (24.54 million), trade and services (344.87 million), technology (24.32 million), infrastructure (13.75 million), SPAC (29.67 million), finance (41.67 million), hotels (1.16 million), properties (120.49 million), plantations (13.8 million), mining (20,900), REITs (4.83 million) and closed/fund (nil). — Bernama