KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Bursa Malaysia’s main index ended the week on a negative note after failing to sustain earlier session’s gains as investors booked profit following the recent advance.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 2.02 points to 1,422.59 from yesterday’s close of 1,424.61.

The main index, which opened 0.18 of-a-point higher at 1,424.79, oscillated between an intraday low of 1,421.36 and an intraday high of 1,429.48.

The market breadth remained positive as gainers beat decliners 439 to 407, while 427 counters were unchanged, 1,003 untraded and 73 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 3.27 billion units worth RM1.76 billion versus yesterday’s 3.31 billion units worth RM1.63 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the market ended easier despite key regional indices being mostly higher, taking their positive cue from Wall Street and European markets.

An analyst said investors are awaiting the United States core personal consumption expenditure data which is the US Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation later today.

At home, heavyweight PPB Group led the list of decliners after losing 56 sen to RM16.56, followed by Maybank and Petronas Chemicals, both of which decreased by six sen to RM8.57 and RM7.07, respectively, while CIMB fell four sen to RM5.31 and Press Metal was five sen weaker at RM4.87.

Meanwhile, CelcomDigi gained four sen to RM4.34 and Public Bank was two sen higher at RM4.00, helping to cap losses in the main index.

As for the actives, MMAG, BSL Corporation and Fitters were unchanged at two sen, 1.5 sen and eight sen respectively, while MyEG bagged 3.5 sen to 76.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dwindled by 4.78 points to 10,419.63, the FBMT 100 Index declined by 5.25 points to 10,114.03, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased by 6.36 points to 10,716.43.

The FBM 70 Index gained 30.74 points to 13,512.38 and the FBM ACE Index was 23.47 points higher at 5,226.80.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 58.04 points to 15,708.70 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.56 of-a-point lower at 171.08, while the Plantation Index added 10.80 points to 6,741.28, and the Energy Index went up 4.54 points to 836.81.

The Main Market volume slid to 1.94 billion shares worth RM1.46 billion against 2.43 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion yesterday.

Warrant turnover, however, expanded to 417.71 million units worth RM77.22 million from 280.26 million units worth RM53.65 million.

The ACE Market volume strengthened to 909.05 million shares worth RM223.97 million from 604.14 million shares worth RM258.84 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 344.88 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (622.18 million); construction (105.81 million); technology (338.12 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (67.56 million); property (102.37 million); plantation (21.46 million); REITs (6.50 million), closed/fund (31,100); energy (123.16 million); healthcare (71.16 million); telecommunications and media (48.50 million); transportation and logistics (44.02 million); and utilities (46.82 million). — Bernama