KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to end the week sharply lower due to broad-based selling, said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng.

With the key index falling 1.10 per cent, investors exercised caution due to global inflation concerns, fueled by elevated crude oil prices and the looming United States government shutdown.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 15.94 points to 1,424.17 to mark its intraday low from Wednesday’s close of 1,440.11.

The benchmark index, which opened 3.72 points easier at 1,436.39, hit an intraday high of 1,436.97 in the morning session before succumbing to selling pressure in late trading.

On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 578 to 379 while 438 counters were unchanged, 990 untraded and 98 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 3.03 billion units worth RM2.43 billion from 2.97 billion units worth RM1.94 billion on Wednesday.

Thong said some portfolio realignments and profit-taking activities from local institutions could take place as the market enters the fourth quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, key regional indices trended mostly higher as bargain hunting emerged following yesterday’s sell-off.

"Back home, today’s heavy selling provides good opportunities to pick up stocks, especially the blue chips. The benchmark index is currently in an oversold position and we expect bargain-hunting activities to emerge next week,” he told Bernama.

At the close, Bursa heavyweight counters Maybank fell nine sen to RM8.79, Public Bank lost eight sen to RM4.06, CIMB decreased 12 sen to RM5.43, Tenaga Nasional and Petronas Chemicals slid three sen each to RM9.99 and RM7.19, respectively.

Of the actives, Evergreen Max Cash added 7.5 sen to 42.5 sen, KNM rose half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, while Ekovest went down half-a-sen to 55.5 sen.

Both Sapura Energy and Widad were flat at 5.5 sen and 51 sen, respectively. — Bernama