KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower today, pressured by pre-weekend selling and in line with regional markets.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 10.77 points lower at 1,848.75. The loser-to-gainer ratio was 530 to 223 while 287 counters were unchanged, 577 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Turnover rose to 2.22 billion shares valued at RM1.97 billion from 2.08 billion shares worth RM2.32 billion yesterday.

Investor sentiment has been dampened by sell-off on Wall Street overnight and worries over the slower growth in China.

“Skittish sentiment triggered a broad-based sell-off except in properties,” a dealer said.

An analyst said local property and technology stocks had become the strongest market leaders since April.

“That is usually a good sign for the rest of the stock market,” Affin Investment Bank vice president and head of retail research Dr Nazri Khan told Bernama.

He said economically sensitive property stocks were a necessary ingredient for the advancement of a healthy stock market.

On the scoreboard, the Industrial Index fell 5.96 points to 3,202.45, the Plantation Index 6.60 points to 8,988.78 and the Finance Index 71.83 points to 16,866.05.

The FBM Emas Index dipped 48.02 points to 12,856.53, FBMT100 Index 7.86 points to 12,499.55, FBM 70 60.21 points to 14,109 and the FBM Ace 18.54 points to 6,766.22.

Among actives, Talam Transform and KNM-Wa gained 0.5 sen each to 10 sen and 37.5 sen respectively while Symphony House rose 2 sen to 30.5 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.76, Tenaga slipped 2 sen to RM11.90 and CIMB lost 6 sen to RM7.40. SapuraKencana Petroleum fell 3 sen to RM4.35 after Seadrill Ltd sold its 230 million shares in the company.

AirAsia gained 1 sen to RM2.31 after signing a brand licence agreement with Thai AirAsia X Co Ltd to enable the use of AirAsia X’s brand name, trade mark and logos in Thailand.

The Main Market volume rose to 1.79 billion units valued at RM1.85 billion from 1.67 billion units worth RM2.21 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE market increased to 403.36 million shares worth RM111.39 million from 382.13 million shares valued at RM104.23 million.

Warrants declined to 26.68 million units valued at RM3.72 million from 28.53 million units worth RM4.52 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 53.23 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 399.41 million, construction 99.96 million, trade and services 568.71 million, technology 81.63 million, infrastructure 12.07 million, SPAC 10.9 million, finance 84.12 million, hotels 749,300 million, properties 457.37 million, plantations 12.49 million, mining 30,000, REITs 6.19 million and closed/fund 35,800. — Bernama