KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended easier today in the absence of fresh market leads, in tandem with weak global sentiment, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.68 points, or 0.151 per cent, to close at 1,769.21.

The key barometer opened 0.53 of a point higher at 1,772.42 and hovered between 1,769.21 and 1,776.07 throughout the day.

Dealers said the immediate downside risk for the FBM KLCI remained relatively limited, with the benchmark index treading above the first support level of 1,750.

On the regional front, China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange was down 12.29 points, Indonesia’s JKSE declined 151.55 points, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 43.18 points and Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 43.18 points.  

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index rose 49.01 points to 16,950.75 but the Industrial Index dipped 14.33 points to 2,998.45.

The Plantation Index inched up 7.26 points to 8,375.01.

The FBM Emas Index dropped 14.9 points to 12,293, FBMT100 Index fell 17.76 points to 12,064.01, FBM Mid 70 Index fell 18.61 points to 14,141.83 while the FBM Ace Index edged up 21.5 points to 4,633.52.

Losers led gainers by 385 to 339 while 295 counters were unchanged, 547 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Total volume increased to 1.247 billion shares worth RM2.102 billion from 1.17 billion shares worth RM1.79 billion yesterday.

Among actives, DVM Technologies eased half-a-sen to 8.0 sen, Luster added half-a-sen at 10.5 sen and Ingenuity Consolidated was flat at nine sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank chalked up six sen to RM10.46, CIMB gained 2.0 sen to RM8.25 and Sime Darby was unchanged at RM9.50. 

Volume on the Main Market increased to 936.663 million units valued at RM2.06 billion from 932.465 million units valued at RM1.76 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market rose to 285.714 million shares worth RM40.996 million from 200.410 million shares worth RM31.166 million yesterday.

Warrants declined to 23.947 million units valued at RM3.81 million from 36.043 million units valued at RM4.464 million previously.  

Consumer products accounted for 46.76 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 207.192 million, construction 57.250 million, trade and services 315.809 million, technology 53.949 million, infrastructure 49.282 million, SPAC 7.65 million, finance 80.314 million, hotels 1.065 million, properties 96.415 million, plantations 12.039 million, mining 1.231 million, REITs 6.71 million and closed/fund 986,000. — Bernama