Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed 7.0 sen to RM8.23, TNB fell 16 sen to RM11.26, while Public Bank jumped 16 sen to RM19.06, Top Glove rose 1.0 sen to RM7.01 and Petronas Chemicals gained 10 sen to RM6.75. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today but managed to recoup some of its earlier losses, supported by mild buying in selected plantation counters, amid mixed sentiment on regional bourses, dealers said.

A dealer said Asian stock markets were mixed, with some bourses taking cue from losses on Wall Street overnight as investors weighed over escalating Covid-19 cases against optimism over a potential vaccine.

He said the rising coronavirus cases had raised concerns about fresh lockdown measures and tamped down growing optimism over promising vaccine trial results.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 1.1 per cent to 25,728.14, Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.22 per cent to 3,347.30 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index perked up 0.49 per cent to 26,544.29.

Another dealer said the slide in the local market was also due to profit-taking in consumer products and financial services counters due to their recent gains.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed 7.0 sen to RM8.23, TNB fell 16 sen to RM11.26, while Public Bank jumped 16 sen to RM19.06, Top Glove rose 1.0 sen to RM7.01 and Petronas Chemicals gained 10 sen to RM6.75.

Among actives, AT Systematization slipped 5.5 sen to 19 sen, NETX trimmed 3.5 sen to 14 sen, Metronic Global went down 4.5 sen to 11.5 sen, and Pegasus was flat at 3.0 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 41.85 points better at 11,514.49, the FBMT 100 Index erased 43.48 points to 11,303.24, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 45.62 points to 13,168.34, and the FBM 70 declined 78.55 points to 14,725.26.

The FBM ACE lost 231.15 points to 11,088.10, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.25 points to 158.99, the Plantation Index advanced 43.55 points to 7,355.15, and the Financial Services Index lost 91.08 points to 14,364.61.

The Main Market volume slipped to 7.18 billion shares worth RM3.64 billion from 8.71 billion shares worth RM6.44 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 653.06 million units valued at RM117.27 million from 1.41 billion units valued at RM223.38 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market widened to 6.58 billion shares worth RM1.33 billion compared with 6.28 billion shares worth RM1.30 billion previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.0 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.95 billion), construction (289.90 million), technology (524.23 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (97.43 million), property (2.06 billion), plantations (89.21 million), REITs (9.76 million), closed/fund (20,200), energy (364.52 million), healthcare (130.34 million), telecommunications and media (54.27 million), transportation and logistics (520.31 million), and utilities (83.45 million). — Bernama