KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower across the board today in line with regional peers with sentiment dampened by the volatility in global equity markets, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 18.05 points to 1,644.41 from Friday’s close of 1,662.46. The key index opened 8.47 points higher at 1,670.93 at 9am.

The market was closed on Monday and yesterday for the Lunar New Year public holidays.

A dealer said local stocks took the cue from Asian shares, which continued to slide amid fears of a global recession and growing concerns over the world’s banks particularly in Europe.

“Global equities sell-off and its volatility had shifted investors’ demand to safe haven assets,” said the dealer.

The weak sentiment was also contributed by Wall Street and European markets, which struggled to regain their composure yesterday after a sharp, bank-led sell-off the previous session, he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank added 5 sen to RM8.59, TNB gained 4 sen to RM13.20, Public Bank eased 6 sen to RM18.48, Petronas Chemicals slipped 4 sen to RM6.94 and IHH fell 8 sen to RM6.52.

Of the top losers, KLK slipped 86 sen to RM22.96, Malaysian Airport Holdings fell 51 sen to RM5.63, British American Tobacco declined 44 sen to RM56.06 and Malaysian Pacific Industries gave up 40 sen for RM7.70.

Among the most actives, Tiger Synergy and APFT slid 1 sen each to 6.5 sen and 21.5 sen respectively, Genetec and XOX Bhd eased 0.5 sen each to 24.5 sen and 19 sen respectively, while Berjaya Corporation added 1 sen to 40 sen.

Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 506 to 249 with 220 counters unchanged, 775 counters untraded and 15 others were suspended. Total volume fell to 887.61 million shares, worth RM1.06 billion, from Friday’s 1.49 billion shares worth RM1.67 billion.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 113.99 points to 11,412.57, FBMT100 Index gave up 115 points to 11,118.80 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 135.01 points to 12,207.81. The FBM 70 slipped 105.47 points to 12,639.46 and the FBM Ace slid 40.10 points to 5,855.57.

On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index tumbled 160.66 points to 7,659.23, Industrial Index reduced 26.36 points to 3,227.23 and the Finance Index decreased down 46.97 points to 13,850.71.

Main Market volume fell to 611.80 million units, worth RM999.55 million, from Friday’s 1.04 billion units worth RM1.58 billion. Turnover on the ACE Market contracted to 156.20 million shares, valued at RM37.24 million, from 231.07 million shares, valued at RM54.63 million, on Friday.

Warrants decreased to 119.38 million units, worth RM21.34 million, from 212.81 million units, worth RM39.25 million, on Friday.

Consumer products accounted for 56.56 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (103.08 million), construction (13.91 million), trade and services (241.77 million), technology (8.85 million), infrastructure (8.56 million), SPAC (6.77 million), finance (29.67 million), hotels (636,300), properties (123.37 million), plantations (17.30 million), mining (2,000), REITs (1.31 million) and closed/fund (13,000). — Bernama