KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s losses to end lower today in line with weaker regional market sentiment due to growing concerns over the bearish economic outlook, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.12 points to settle at 1,454.59 from 1,460.07 at yesterday’s close.

The barometer index opened 0.53 of a point easier at 1,459.54 and moved between 1,454.70 and 1,460.23 throughout the day.

On the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 503 to 364, with 443 counters unchanged, 1,013 untraded and seven others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 2.55 billion units worth RM1.85 billion against Thursday’s 3.21 billion units worth RM2.02 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI finished lower as investor sentiment was affected by major selldown in the region.

"Key regional indices trended lower with strong selling in the Japanese stock market as Japan’s economy grew slower than expected (in the second quarter). The Hong Kong market was closed due to a storm warning. Meanwhile, tech stocks in the region continued to tumble due to deepening US-China tensions,” he told Bernama.

Another dealer said that regional bourses were down as a drop in Apple shares overnight pulled US stock indices lower yesterday. News that China would broaden a ban on the use of iPhones helped push the tech giant’s market capitalisation wipeout over the past two sessions to nearly US$200 billion (RM935 billion).

"Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent, and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite declined 0.9 per cent, extending losses from the previous trading session.

"Apple shares closed 2.9 per cent lower yesterday, pushing their decline since Tuesday’s closing bell to 6.4 per cent in one of their steepest two-day sell-offs this year,” he said.

Among the Bursa Malaysia heavyweights, Maybank slipped 3.0 sen to RM9.14, Tenaga Nasional declined 1.0 sen to RM9.86, and CIMB went down 5.0 sen to RM5.69, while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM4.25 and RM7.17, respectively.

Of the actives, Classita fell 1.0 sen to 7.0 sen and JAKS Resources shed half a sen to 21 sen, while Ekovest added 2.5 sen to 53 sen and Widad Group advanced 1.0 sen to 47.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index erased 47.88 points to 10,726.92, the FBMT100 Index fell 45.92 points to 10,401.98, the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 62.54 points to 10,887.50, and the FBM 70 Index dropped 101.97 points to 14,135.72, but the FBM ACE Index gained 0.26 of a point to 5,188.83.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 45.52 points to 16,426.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index dipped 0.38 of a point to 172.74, the Energy Index ticked down 9.02 points to 855.47, and the Plantation Index declined 34.80 points to 6,864.15.

The Main Market’s volume shrank to 1.85 billion units worth RM1.66 billion from 2.30 billion units worth RM1.82 billion yesterday.

Warrant turnover narrowed to 215.13 million units valued at RM31.01 million against yesterday’s 344.77 million units valued at RM48.86 million.

The ACE Market volume fell to 474.13 million shares worth RM166.28 million from 560.47 million shares worth RM159.50 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 372.62 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (335.50 million); construction (167.08 million); technology (167.54 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (47.81 million); property (320.68 million); plantation (33.87 million); REITs (8.0 million), closed/fund (4,900); energy (137.0 million); healthcare (70.72 million); telecommunications and media (32.52 million); transportation and logistics (61.03 million); and utilities (92.84 million). — Bernama