KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Weak sentiment, brought on by the lack of direction in oil prices and talk that US interest rates will increase before year-end, pushed share prices to close lower on Bursa Malaysia today.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.69 points to 1,667.03 after fluctuating between 1,663.78 and 1,668.33 throughout the day.

Investors turned cautious and this was reflected by selling pressure in index-linked and blue-chip counters.       

A dealer said crude oil prices, which returned to the positive zone hours before trading closed, and the better-than-expected August Industrial Production Index (IPI), which grew 4.9 per cent, helped cushion the downtrend.

Among oil and gas stocks, Petronas Gas rose 18 sen to RM21.96, Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM6.81 and Petronas Dagangan perked 10 sen to RM23.46.

There were 398 losers and 355 gainers while 416 counters were unchanged, 488 untraded and 17 others were suspended.

Volume widened to 1.6 billion units, worth RM1.84 billion, from 1.56 billion units, worth RM1.89 billion, recorded on Tuesday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM7.66, Public Bank eased two sen to RM19.76, IHH Healthcare lost seven sen to RM6.48 but Tenaga was flat at RM14.38.

Of actives, Hibiscus Petroleum perked 2.5 sen to 26.5 sen, TH Heavy Engineering inched up half-a-sen to 19 sen while Nexgram was flat at 5.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index trimmed 16.25 points to 11,772.44, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 18.47 points to 12,434.08, the FBMT100 Index declined 17.04 points to 11,471.49 while FBM 70 erased 39.94 points to 13,768.55.

However, the FBM Ace rose 44.13 points to 5,232.36.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index gained 4.03 points to 3,140.08, the Plantation Index earned 14.39 points to 7,943.55 but the Finance Index gave up 13.05 points for 14,281.27.

Main market turnover decreased to 1.04 billion shares, worth RM1.75 billion, from 1.08 billion shares, worth RM1.80 billion, registered on Tuesday.

The ACE Market volume widened to 326.68 million units, valued at RM44.92 million, from 235.3 million units, worth RM33.39 million, recorded yesterday.

Warrants swelled to 225.06 million shares, worth RM44.6 million, from yesterday’s 242.29 million shares worth RM49.71 million.              

Consumer products accounted for 63.48 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (318.39 million), construction (41.32 million), trade and services (384.33 million), technology (32.5 million), infrastructure (7.11 million), SPAC (48.98 million), finance (66.25 million), hotels (215,900), properties (40.58 million), plantations (18.21 million), mining (nil), REITs (23.08 million) and closed/fund (140,500). — Bernama