KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Bursa Malaysia finished on an easier note today as mild profit-taking emerged among selective heavyweight stocks.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.17 points, or 0.37 per cent to end at 1,644.54 from Tuesday’s close of 1,650.71, after opening 4.89 points higher at 1,655.60.

The index moved between 1,640.68 and 1,656.03 in the trading session.

A dealer said most investors were still absent from the market on an extended Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday break.

"The local market also took que from the weak overnight performance of Wall Street. Investors are now looking ahead to the highly-anticipated US jobs report due tonight,” he added.

On the broader market, losers led gainers 387 to 305, while 331 stocks were unchanged, 698 untraded and 18 others suspended.  

Total volume rose to 1.23 billion shares worth RM1.44 billion from 635.89 million shares worth RM710.98 million traded on Tuesday.

The local bourse and its subsidiaries were closed on Wednesday and yesterday for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday.

Losers in the composite index component stocks today were led by Petronas Gas which dropped 46 sen to RM22.22, Sime Darby easing 13 sen to RM4.65, and Genting Malaysia declining ten sen to RM4.29.

IOI lost nine sen to RM4.28, while Axiata eased four sen to RM5.50.

Top weighted Maybank was flat at RM8.20, Tenaga rose six sen to RM14.10,

while Public Bank eased four sen to RM19.34.

Among active stocks, Borneo Oil rose 1.5 sen to 18.5 sen, TH Heavy lost 2.5 sen to 7 sen, Vivocom ticked up one sen to 24 sen, Sanichi declined half-a-sen sen to 16.5 sen, while AirAsia X shed one sen to 38 sen.

Dutch Lady led the list of top gainers in gaining RM2.84 to RM61.30.

The FBM Emas Index lost 46.20 points to 11,467.65, the FBMT100 Index eased 47.04 points to 11,175.88, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 58.15 points to 12,019.21.

The FBM Ace was in positive territory with a 34.72 points gain to 5,157.37, while the FBM 70 slipped 73.10 points to 12,903.82.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was down 37.11 points to 3,094.20, the Plantation Index trimmed 56.15 points to 7,517.37, while the Finance Index recovered 15.65 points to 14,274.31.

Main Market turnover expanded to 880.34 million shares worth RM1.38 billion from Tuesday’s 414.90 million shares worth RM673.42 million.

ACE Market volume rose to 160.06 million units valued at RM33.97 million from 119.59 million units valued at RM22.12 million.

Warrants leapt to 185.70 million shares worth RM27.81 million from 99.73 million shares worth RM14.62 million.

Consumer products accounted for 20.71 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (105.41 million), construction (40.42 million), trade and services (535.91 million), technology (83.20 million), infrastructure (10.15 million), SPAC (7.54 million), finance (31.50 million), hotels (71,000), properties (24.52 million), plantations (14.28 million), mining (128,000), REITs (6.48 million) and closed/fund (9,500). — Bernama