KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closing 1.81 points or 0.10 per cent easier at 1,853.34, as profit-taking activity emerged among heavyweight stocks.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 448 to 421, with 290 counters unchanged, 480 counters untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume dwindled to 1.86 billion shares worth RM1.89 billion from 2.75 billion shares worth RM2.40 billion last Friday.

An equity dealer said investors took profit after the local bourse’s bullish momentum during the whole of last week.

“It’s common to see market correction and profit-taking after a week’s rally,” he said.

Among FBM KLCI components, Petronas Gas led the laggards, dipping 54 sen toRM21.94, while CIMB Group lost eight sen to RM6.41, Felda Global Ventures shed 11 sen to RM3.55, KLCC Property & REIT edged down 15 sen to RM6.73 and PublicBank declined six sen to RM18.48.

On other scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index was 4.79 points lower at 12,878.10 and the FBMT100 Index declined 4.62 points to 12,512.60, but the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 11.74 points better at 13,358.11.

The FBM 70 added 23.49 points to 14,156.50 while the FBM Ace pared its morning session gains, easing 35.99 points to settle at 6,550.04.

On a sectorial basis, the Finance Index lost 29.96 points to 16,796.57 and the Industrial Index shed 10.59 points to 3,268.81, while the Plantation Index dipped 27.28 points to settle at 8,490.78.

Among actively-traded stocks, Dagang Nexchange eased half-a-sen to 37.5 sen, Hubline added half-a-sen to 4.5 sen,

Censof Holdings dipped 3.5 sen to 58 sen, Nexgram Holdings fell one sen to 10.5 sen while IFCA MSC shed 1.5 sen to 67 sen.

Nestle led the top gainers today, adding 50 sen to RM69.00.

The Main Market volume shrank to 1.36 billion units valued at RM1.76 billion from last Friday’s 2.03 billion units valued at RM2.22 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 435.00 million shares worth RM127.22 million from 637.79 million shares worth RM168.54 million recorded on Friday.

Warrants fell to 55.40 million units valued at RM5.66 million from 77.8 million units valued at RM9.4 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 117.39 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (174.99 million), construction (67.20 million), trade and services (542.12 million), technology (246.20 million), infrastructure (8.59 million), SPAC (28.89 million), finance (40.41 million), hotels (724,900), properties (109.93 million), plantations (17.81 million), mining (122,000), REITs (5.35 million) and closed/fund (23,700). — Bernama