KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today due to profit-taking activities, mainly in banking and gaming heavyweights.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) contracted 8.88 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 1,522.34 after moving between 1,520.27 and 1,534.66 throughout the trading session.

The index opened 0.16 of a point higher at 1,531.38 from Friday’s close of 1,531.22.

Decliners led gainers at 656 to 361, while 415 counters were unchanged, 882 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 3.48 billion shares worth RM2.33 billion from last Friday’s 3.11 billion units valued at RM2.62 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the market sentiment remained cautious as FBM KLCI trended in tight consolidation mode, however, it managed to close above the 1,520 support level.

"Approaching the year-end, we may see some window-dressing activities.

"Furthermore, we believe some bargain-hunting activities will emerge as valuations on the local market remains attractive and we see the benchmark index (moving) between 1,525-1,540 for the week,” he told Bernama.

Thong said from a technical point of view, the immediate support is unchanged at 1,520, followed by the psychological support at 1,500 and resistance at 1,565.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were one sen lower at RM8.10 and RM4.01 respectively, Petronas Chemicals fell two sen to RM8.29 while IHH Healthcare gained five sen to RM6.48.

Of the actives, MMAG increased half-a-sen to 10 sen, Dagang Nexchange bagged 1.5 sen to 85.5 sen while AirAsia X was flat at 7.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 57.10 points to 11,271.75, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 61.53 points to 10,905.78, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 63.15 points to 12,276.87.

The FBM 70 dropped 75.93 points to 14,926.61 and the FBM ACE fell 3.12 points to 6,974.87.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.73 points to 199.94, the Plantation Index contracted 117.30 points to 6,555.64, and the Financial Services Index shrank 49.91 points to 15,155.80.

The Main Market volume increased to 2.24 billion shares worth RM1.95 billion, from 2.04 billion shares worth RM2.22 billion last Friday. 

Warrants turnover improved to 299.05 million units worth RM55.96 million, versus 251.82 million units worth RM55.26 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 936.12 million shares valued at RM322.13 million, from Friday’s 810.81 million shares valued at RM338.01 million.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 361.76 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (735.96 million), construction (75.69 million), technology (358.89 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (45.80 million), property (139.54 million), plantation (11.95 million), REITs (7.39 million), closed/fund (20,000), energy (147.91 million), healthcare (74.78 million), telecommunications and media (21.26 million), transportation and logistics (249.62 million), and utilities (9.61 million). — Bernama