KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended lower today, despite mostly bullish regional market, due to an overbought correction after the recent rally, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 11.74 points to end at 1,703.79 against Thursday's close of 1,715.53.

The FBM KLCI, which opened 2.76 points lower at 1,712.77, moved between 1,699.76 and 1,712.89 throughout the day.

Among the top losers were United Plantations and Public Bank, which declined 30 sen and 26 sen to RM26.52 and RM18.52, respectively.

A dealer said that investors might also have extended their "pause" on the market yesterday due to lack of fresh leads from Wall Street overnight and ahead of the weekend.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended almost flat Thursday ahead of the Good Friday holiday and investors' concern over a possible hike in interest rate by the US Federal Reserve in April.

Back home, market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced advancers by 465 to 294 with 397 counters unchanged, 590 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Volume slipped to 1.43 billion shares valued at RM1.15 billion from 1.69 billion shares valued at RM1.88 billion on Thursday.

For heavyweights, Maybank shed six sen to RM8.89, while TNB improved two sen to RM13.98, IHH Healthcare added three sen to RM6.53 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.71.

Among active stocks, KNM Group rose 1.5 sen to 49.5 sen, Comintel Corp advanced 19 sen to 83 sen, while AirAsia X eased half-a-sen to 29 sen and IOI Corp slipped 18 sen to RM4.65.

The FBM Emas Index fell 69.55 points to 11,811.72, FBMT100 Index lost 70.06 points to 11,513.62 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased by 47.89 points to 12,461.78.

The FBM 70 gave up 46.28 points to 13,064.58 but the FBM Ace gained 5.98 points to 5,642.73.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 125.22 points to 14,489.40, Industrial Index was 12.41 points lower at 3,270.52 and the Plantation Index slipped 88.13 points to 7,879.18.

Main Market turnover fell to 1.10 billion units worth RM1.11 billion from 1.13 billion units worth RM1.78 billion on Thursday.

Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 170.62 million shares valued at RM26.30 million against 227.09 million shares valued at RM46.29 million yesterday.

Warrants fell to 156.41 million units worth RM16.34 million from 327.63 million units worth RM51.54 million on Thursday.

Consumer products accounted for 140.93 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (297.93 million), construction (110.73 million), trade and services (345.61 million), technology (19.02 million), infrastructure (6.64 million), SPAC (63.17 million), finance (20.37 million), hotels (370,600), properties (59.92 million), plantations (33.13 million), mining (15,000), REITs (4.06 million) and closed/fund (nil). — Bernama