KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today as investors continued to recalibrate their investments on rising economic concerns.

At the close, main index FBM KLCI eased by 4.6 points to 1,647.89 compared with Friday’s close of 1,652.49.

The index had opened 3.64 points lower at 1,648.85 and moved between 1,641.92 to 1,657.87 throughout the day.

The overall market breadth was negative as losers overtook gainers 728 to 426, while 434 counters were unchanged, 551 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume stood at 8.08 billion units worth RM3.66 billion.

The downtrend had mainly affected the lower liners, especially those on the ACE market which continued to track regional and global equities’ performance.

An analyst said that the downward pressure was seen since last Friday, as the index has reached an overbought position and could not break the resistance due to the gloomy economic outlook, which is expected to last until year-end.

"The Covid-19 global pandemic has continued to impact global equities, especially cyclical stocks.

"Meanwhile, technology and healthcare will see an uptrend for now,” she said.

As for the technical benchmark for the local market, she said the resistance will now stand at 1,660 while support is located at 1,635.

She added that tomorrow, the index will be heavily influenced by the development on the United States (US) US$900 billion stimulus package, which will be voted on by the US senate today.

"The stimulus package will act as a global catalyst, and if the voting falls through, global stocks will be impacted directly,” she said.

KLCI components had a choppy trading day, with Axiata emerging as the biggest loser as it shed 13 sen to RM3.74, while Nestle dipped RM3.50 to RM137.40, Hong Leong declined 42 sen to RM18.14 and Genting slipped 10 sen to RM4.55.

As for the actives, Sapura Energy was flat at 12.5 sen, Iris added 2.5 sen to 39 sen and AT Systemization slipped half a sen to 17 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 41.67 points lower at 11,848.80, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 144.15 points to 11,650.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 47.93 points to 13,286.50, the FBM 70 dropped 149.24 points to 15,218.60, and the FBM ACE added 30.80 points to 10,478.40.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.73 of-a-point to 174.96, the Plantation Index added 8.39 points to 7,358.19, while the Financial Services Index erased 41.42 points to 15,383.50.

The Main Market volume shrunk to 4.81 billion shares worth RM2.74 billlon from 4.87 billion shares worth RM3.77 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover declined to 585.12 million units worth RM104.35 million from 833.16 million units worth RM125.05 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 2.68 billion shares worth RM815.02 million from 2.35 billion shares worth RM493.83 million last week.

Consumer products and services accounted for 553.76 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.48 billion), construction (636.0 million), technology (506.14 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (72.89 million), property (468.31 million), plantations (74.95 million), REITs (8.39 million), closed/fund (23,800), energy (716.98 million), healthcare (45.67 million), telecommunications and media (40.36 million), transportation and logistics (105.13 million), and utilities (105.36 million). — Bernama