KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed on an easier note today on profit-taking, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 4.08 points, or 0.22 per cent, to end at 1,874.81.   

It fluctuated between 1,871.36 and 1,878.42 points throughout the day.

A dealer said the market was also bogged down by losses in index-linked counters, especially in the plantation sector, as well as disappointing Chinese manufacturing survey result.

HLIB Research, in its note, said the ongoing profit-taking by lower-liners and penny stocks could dampen broader market sentiment and cap further KLCI appreciation.

It said this might encourage profit-taking in the near term.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 firmed to 15,586.20 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index inched up to 3,325.63 but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased to 24,994.1.

The top losers were Kuala Lumpur Kepong, which plunged 70 sen to RM23.16, British American Tabacco declined 40 sen to RM71.00, DanaInfra Nasional slipped 28 sen to RM96.72 and IOI Corp parted 17 sen to RM4.83.

Among the top gainers, Hong Leong Financial Group increased 42 sen to RM17.60, Press Metal-WC added 24 sen to RM3.82, Fiamma Holdings-Warrant rose 22 sen to RM1.22 and LPI Capital Bhd appreciated 18 sen to RM17.20.

Most active counter, Sumatec Resources finished eight sen higher at 45 sen with 335.22 million shares transacted.

Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd today issued an unusual market activity query to the oil and gas firm due to the unusual surge in volume recently.

The Industrial Index decreased 7.52 points to 3,269.38 and the Plantation was down 123.33 to 8,696.91.

The Finance Index increased 34.84 points to 17,475.58.

The FBM Emas Index was 18.99 points lower at 13,098.68, FBMT100 Index dropped 25.59 points to 12,664.48 and the FBM 70 fell 21.48 points to 14,353.39.

The FBM Ace added 40.88 points to 7,072.7.

Gainers led losers by 457 by 393 while 316 counters were unchanged, 477 untraded and 21 others were suspended.

Total volume dipped to 2.99 billion units worth RM2.44 billion from 7.669 billion units worth RM3.304 billion yesterday.  

Among the active counters, PDZ Holdings rose 6.5 sen to 36 sen, Globaltec Formation added half a sen to 12.5 sen and Marco Holdings finished two sen higher at 23 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank dipped two sen to RM10.06, while Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM19.34 and RM12.44 respectively.

The Main Market volume fell to 2.48 billion units worth RM2.35 billion from 6.36 billion units worth RM3.09 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market dropped to 428.43 million shares valued at RM82.31 million from yesterday’s 1.23 billion shares valued at RM200.37 million.

Warrants edged up to 53.74 million units worth RM7 million from 50.94 million units worth RM6.41 million yesterday.  

Consumer products accounted for 175.38 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (456.72 billion), construction (120.69 million), trade and services (1.25 billion), technology (81.33 million), infrastructure (13.28 million), SPAC (106.86 million), finance (61.24 million), hotels (945,400 million), properties (178.99 million), plantations (33.9 million), mining (21,500), REITs (7.13 million), and closed/fund (7,000). — Bernama