KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 —- Bursa Malaysia retreated from yesterday's gains to close lower on Thursday due to profit-taking activities, bucking the mostly positive regional market performance, said an analyst.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 3.69 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 1,381.73 from 1,385.42 at yesterday’s close.

The key index opened 2.46 points lower at 1,382.96 this morning and hit a low of 1,378.83 later in the day.

The market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced gainers 546 to 361, while 403 counters were unchanged, 974 untraded, and 13 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.48 billion units worth RM1.80 billion versus 2.86 billion units worth RM1.75 billion on Wednesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said regionally, the key indices ended mostly higher buoyed by the prospect of increased stimulus in China after the republic made more rate cuts.

Japan's Nikkei 225 eased 0.05 per cent to 33,485.49, China’s SSE Composite Index rose 0.74 per cent to 3,252,98, Shenzhen Index jumped 1.81 per cent to 11,182.94, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index put on 2.17 per cent to 19,828.92, while South Korea's Kospi declined 0.40 per cent to 2,608.54.

"The rate cuts point to increased liquidity conditions in the world's second-largest economy, potentially offering temporary market support in the near future. In addition, the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) stance in keeping the interest rates steady is also well received by investors," he told Bernama.

Thong said, nevertheless, investors have turned cautious and reluctant to make significant moves due to ongoing global economic uncertainty, coupled with the Fed’s hawkish comments, which caused the benchmark index to remain stagnant in a consolidation mode.

"As such, we foresee the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,380-1,390 towards the weekend," he added.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank rose three sen to RM3.85, CIMB ticked up one sen to RM5.00, Tenaga Nasional gave up nine sen to RM9.11, Petronas Chemicals declined 15 sen to RM6.25, while Maybank was flat at RM8.60.

Of the actives, Sarawak Consolidated perked up 3.5 sen to 42 sen, KNM bagged one sen to 8.5 sen, Classita dropped half-a-sen to 10 sen, MyEG erased 2.5 sen to 83.5 sen, while Borneo Oil was flat at 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 31.53 points lower at 10,212.72, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 32.74 points to 9,906.42, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 52.74 points to 10,564.53, the FBM ACE Index dipped 94.19 points to 5,104.81, and the FBM 70 Index tumbled 70.83 points to 13,579.47.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.18 points to 158.89, the Plantation Index slipped 6.44 points to 6,700.67, the Energy Index eased 0.21 of-a-point to 787.22, and the Financial Services Index climbed 19.87 points to 15,204.01.

The Main Market volume expanded to 2.43 billion units valued at RM1.54 billion from 1.83 billion units valued at RM1.51 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover swelled to 399.46 million units worth RM72.87 million against 279.54 million units worth RM44.73 million previously.

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 642.95 million shares valued at RM190.47 million from 746.61 million shares valued at RM201.37 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 571.79 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (787.02 million); construction (41.01 million); technology (271.23 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (55.63 million); property (246.34 million); plantation (58.67 million); REITs (6.35 million), closed/fund (nil); energy (224.12 million); healthcare (53.80 million); telecommunications and media (35.26 million); transportation and logistics (26.33 million); and utilities (57.22 million). — Bernama