KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended lower today with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) 24.28 points easier on heavy selling across the board particularly of blue chips.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI stood at 1,572.54 points, after hovering between 1,569.19 and 1,594.46 throughout the day.

A dealer said the local bourse remained bearish with sentiment continuing to be plagued by the weakening ringgit against the greenback, slowdown in China’s economy, devaluation of the Chinese yuan, weakening of oil prices and nagging domestic concerns.

Asian equities were mostly lower, weighed down by the possibility of China allowing the yuan to depreciate further and data which showed Japan’s economy contracted less than expected in the second quarter, he said. 

Among regional peers, the Hang Seng slipped 0.74 per cent to 23,814.65, the Kospi Index was down 0.75 per cent to 1,968.52, the Straits Times Index lost 1.33 per cent to 3,072 while Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.49 per cent to 20,620.26.

Losers trounced gainers by 836 to 149 while 215 counters were unchanged, 601 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 2.06 billion units valued at RM1.95 billion from 2.01 billion units valued at RM2.20 billion last Friday.

On the local scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index dropped 197.95 points to 10,767.97, the FBMT100 Index decreased 183.56 points to 10,509.87 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index slipped 216.30 points to 11,169.05.

The FBM 70 went down 279.85 points to 11,493.42 and the FBM Ace fell 268.32 points to 5,186.06.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index tumbled 210.19 points to 14,072.63, the Industrial Index slipped 21.38 points to 3,056.30 and the Plantation Index declined 123.62 points to 6,870.37

Among actives, SapuraKencana Petroleum lost 22 sen to RM1.71, Frontken slid two sen to 18.5 sen, KNM eased 4.5 sen to 47 sen, Sumatec slipped one sen to 12.5 sen while Tiger Synergy was traded flat at 9.5 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank was 10 sen lower at RM8.19, Public Bank slid 22 sen to RM17.98, TNB fell 18 sen to RM10.40, Axiata lost eight sen to RM5.73 and Sime Darby shed 13 sen to RM7.90.

Main Market volume fell to 1.08 billion units worth RM1.71 billion against Friday’s 1.09 million units worth RM1.99 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 337.95 million shares valued at RM58.75 million from 338.60 million shares valued at RM66.91 million previously.

Warrants improved to 641.30 million units worth RM179.20 million from 583.25 million units worth RM140.97 million last Friday. 

Consumer products accounted for 69.80 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (179.78 million), construction (58.16 million), trade and services (453.81 million), technology (62.29 million), infrastructure (15.66 million), SPAC (42.96 million), finance (57.33 million), hotels (1.23 million), properties (100.60 million), plantations (26.71 million), mining (10,000), REITs (11.14 million), and closed/fund (69,300). — Bernama