KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 ― Bursa Malaysia closed lower today, dragged down by the lacklustre display of the global equities markets, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 7.19 points lower at 1,730.99 compared to yesterday's close of 1,738.18.   

The key index opened 1.53 points lower at 1,736.65 and moved between 1,730.51 and 1,736.88 throughout the day.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President and Head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan told Bernama, global market sentiment was dampened by rising geopolitical concerns over North Korea and Syria, as well as the French elections.

The choppy foreign exchange market following US President Donald Trump's comment that the dollar was getting too also added to the market uncertainities strong.

The FBM Emas Index fell 75.1 points to 12,308.12, the FBMT100 Index eased 70.1 points to 11,948.11 and the FBM 70 dipped 162.02 points to 14,495.28.

The FBM Ace shed 105.08 points to 6,001.62 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 93.149 points to 12,759.4.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 52.35 points to 15,564.71, Industrial Index went down 15.5 points to 3,237.16 and the Plantation Index declined 34.13 points to 7,914.03.

Market breadth was negative with 701 losers and 171 gainers, while 289 counters were unchanged, 481 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 3.15 billion units worth RM1.86 billion from Thursday's 3.86 billion units worth RM2.59 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Sime Darby eased one sen each to RM8.95 and RM9.27 respectively, TNB and Public Bank lost four sen each to RM13.70 and RM19.90, and Petronas Chemicals shed 15 sen to RM7.60.

Among actives, Borneo Oil and Lion Diversified added half a sen each to 19 sen and 6.5 sen, while Priceworth International was flat at 24.5 sen.

Anzo lost 4.5 sen to 55.5 sen, while Dagang Nexchange slipped 1.5 sen to 46 sen.

Main Market turnover declined to 2.19 billion units worth RM1.71 billion from yesterday's 2.58 billion units worth RM2.42 billion.

Volume on the ACE Market fell to 777.62 million shares valued at RM127.05 million from yesterday's 1.1 billion shares valued at RM141.43 million.

Warrants contracted to 165.75 million units worth RM17.39 million from 167.72 million units worth RM24.09 million.

Consumer products accounted for 141.38 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (695.24 million), construction (170.87 million), trade and services (702.56 million), technology (149.71 million), infrastructure (5.87 million), SPAC (5.6 million), finance (64.52 million), hotels (2.12 million), properties (230.45 million), plantations (23.65 million), mining (nil), REITs (5.4 million) and closed/fund (26,200). ― Bernama