KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Losses in most heavyweights today dragged down the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) into the red, led by CIMB, Axiata and Petronas Dagangan, dealers said.

The FBM KLCI declined 10.02 points to close at 1,717.56, with the key index moving between 1,714.95 and 1,723.77 throughout the day. It opened 3.81 points weaker at 1,723.77.

Mercury Securities research head Edmund Tham said the bourse still gained support from minor buying activities in some of the blue-chip counters such as Sime Darby, Maxis and Public Bank.

“Buying activities were also seen in penny stocks such as Mentiga Corp and Theta Edge,” he said.

Elsewhere in the region, market breadth was healthy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 443.97 points to 22,175.34, Japan’s Nikkei rose 184.06 points to 13,572.92, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index went up 24.37 points to 3,053.31.

Among actives, Compugates Holdings, The Media Shoppe and Land & General were flat at 6 sen, 9.5 sen and 5 sen respectively, while Pesona Metro eased half a sen to 45 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed 1 sen to RM9.99, Axiata 8 sen to RM6.66, and CIMB 10 sen to RM7.18 while Sime Darby gained 2 sen to RM9.41.

Losers trounced gainers 523 to 231, with 242 counters unchanged, 573 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.08 billion shares worth RM1.2 billion against 1.60 billion shares worth RM2.48 billion on Friday.

On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index declined 38.31 points to 8,164.76, the Industrial Index 19.35 points to 2,890.47 and the Finance Index 112.92 points to 16,093.25.

The FBM Emas Index was 72.98 points lower at 11,895.6, the FBMT100 68.6 points to 11,660.63, the FBM 70 Index 81.51 points to 13,458.02, and the FBM ACE Index 43.92 points to 4,885.89.

Volume on the Main Market declined to 756.86 million units worth RM1.13 billion from 1.179 billion units worth RM2.408 billion on Friday.

Turnover on the ACE market decreased to 252.71 million shares valued at RM61.74 million from 309.617 million shares valued at RM61.618 million previously. Warrants fell to 20.75 million units worth RM1.94 million from 35.550 million units worth RM3.395 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 32.48 million shares on the Main Market, industrial products 83.59 million, construction 74.13 million, trade and services 338.41 million, technology 21.3 million, infrastructure 7.93 million, SPAC 62.39 million, finance 46.43 million, hotels 279,100, properties 73.78 million, plantations 11.19 million, mining 19,000, REITs 4.84 million and closed/fund 74,500. — Bernama