KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 ― Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday's gains to end lower today on profit-taking activities as traders remained cautious over a slight decrease in the oil prices.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.17 points or 0.37 per cent to 1,624.21, after fluctuating between 1,623.61 and 1,629.88 throughout the day.

The composite index opened 1.01 point lower at 1,629.37.

Market breadth was negative with 452 losers and 302 gainers, while 344 counters were unchanged, 633 untraded and 42 others suspended.

Volume declined to 1.3 billion worth RM1.27 billion from 1.56 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion on Wednesday.

A dealer said that the local bourse was influenced by the global market trend as traders were reluctant to take risk due to uncertainty over the planned oil production cut by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"Most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday due to updates from the US, including upbeat economic data and dollar's rally, which can be a strong signal for the revise in the US interest rate in December," he added.

Brent Crude was down 0.35 per cent to US$48.95 per barrel.

Among the index-linked counters, TNB, Sime Darby, Maxis and Petronas Gas erased two sen each to RM14.18, RM8.04, RM5.78 and RM21.44, respectively, Maybank rose two sen to RM7.70, Public Bank was flat at RM19.56 and Petronas Chemicals shed five sen to RM6.85.

The losers list was led by BAT, which declined 64 sen to RM43.86, Nestle dropped 50 sen to RM77.0, Panasonic lost 42 sen to RM35.48, Dutch Lady was 26 sen lower at RM56.24, and Lafarge declined 24 sen to RM7.56.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 51.97 points to 11,411.91, the FBMT100 Index edged down 51.55 points to 11,128.92, the FBM 70 declined 94.70 points to 13,184.22, the FBM Ace lost 41.54 points to 4,926.11, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index dropped 63.89 points to 11,995.66.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 3.03 points easier at 14,151.23, the Industrial Index erased 11.89 points to 3,068.08, while the Plantation Index added 10.89 points to 7,690.49.

Main Market turnover was lower at 881.19 million units worth RM1.19 billion versus yesterday's one billion units worth RM1.74 billion.

The ACE Market volume declined to 183.82 million shares valued at RM38.18 million from 248.77 million shares valued at RM38.71 million previously.

Warrants narrowed to 234.87 million units worth RM45.02 million from 300.04 million units worth RM43.59 million on Wednesday.

Consumer products accounted for 34.04 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (131.42 million), construction (56.82 million), trade and services (400.95 million), technology (73.05 million), infrastructure (8.66 million), SPAC (50.01 million), finance (36.68 million), hotels (198,200) properties (32.41 million), plantations (51.87 million), mining (nil), REITs (4.99 million), and closed/fund (85,000). ― Bernama