KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed broadly lower, reversing yesterday's gains as profit-taking emerged mostly in key blue-chips and small-capitalised stocks.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 8.03 points to 1,854.77 after fluctuating between 1,853.72 and 1,863.61 throughout the day.

BAT topped the losers list, dipping RM1.10 to RM65.50, followed by Nestle, declining 48 sen to RM74.00.

A dealer said sentiment in the local market, which surged following positive remarks made by Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz yesterday, declined today on the back of concerns over China’s rate cut.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 54.48 points to 12,764.07, the FBMT100 Index erased 51.1 points to 12,433.67, the FBM Emas Syariah Index contracted 57.11 points to 13,272.34, the FBM 70 declined 46.1 points to 13,730.03, while the FBM Ace gave up 77.56 points for 7,380.47.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index was 44.57 points lower at 16,486.31, the Industrial Index trimmed 21.56 points to 3,397.44, and the Plantation Index decreased 39.9 points to 7,672.07.

There were 564 loser, 293 gainers, 345 counters unchanged, 603 counters untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 3.04 billion shares worth RM2.74 billion from 2.12 billion shares worth RM2.47 billion on Tuesday.  Among actives, Frontken added 1.5 sen to 29 sen, Bioalpha rose 3.5 sen to 46 sen, and Vsolar gained 2.5 sen to 38 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed one sen to RM9.49, TNB eased two sen to RM14.48, Public Bank fell six sen to RM19.62, Axiata trimmed four sen to RM6.98, and Sime Darby lost eight sen to RM9.27.

Main Market volume slipped to 1.6 billion units worth RM1.83 billion from Monday’s 1.73 billion units worth RM2.17 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 1.08 billion shares valued at RM284.81 million compared with 1.24 billion shares valued at RM287.68 million previously.

Warrants declined to 58.61 million units worth RM12.41 million from 72.54 million units worth RM11.96 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 190.98 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (306.01 million), construction (131.66 million), trade and services (665.76 million), technology (90.68 million), infrastructure (12.74 million), SPAC (13.46 million), finance (53.3 million), hotels (2.25 million), properties (110.68 million), plantation (10.45 million), mining (31,000), REITs (9.5 million), and closed/fund (78,000). — Bernama