KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Bursa Malaysia extended losses to close sharply lower today on net selling by most foreign funds due to bearish external factors, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 19.53 points to close at an intra-day low of 1,686.51, after hovering as high as 1,691.28 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 511 to 393, while 291 counters were unchanged, 606 untraded and 38 others suspended.

Volume increased to 2.17 billion shares worth RM2.28 billion from 2.15 billion shares valued at RM2.05 billion on Wednesday.

Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said there was some net selling by selected foreign funds after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates intact.

Speaking to Bernama, Pong however, opined that the move made by the Fed was only for “public relations” purposes, to make investors see that the US economy remained stable.

He expects the Fed to adjust interest rates at its next meeting scheduled by year-end.

He said the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth, which has been the most aggressive foreign fund on the local bourse, may lose interest in it, after suffering its biggest loss in four years in the third quarter, announced yesterday.

He said the market was also affected by the nett selling of local funds due to the post-budget profit taking.

British American Tobacco and Dutch Lady ended the day among the top losers, declining 46 sen and 36 sen each to RM62.24 and RM47.24 respectively, while Petronas Dagangan lost 26 sen to RM22.50.

Top gainers included P.I.E Industrial (+40 sen to RM7.45), Ajiya (+25 sen to RM4.30) and United Plantations (+20 sen to RM26.50).

Of the heavyweights, Maybank dipped 16 sen to RM8.31, TNB declined eight sen to RM12.66 and Public Bank went down 10 sen to RM18.08.But, Axiata rose one sen to RM6.16.

Among actives, XOX earned half-a-sen to 27 sen, Genetec Technology added 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen, ConnectCounty shed four sen to 29 sen, while KNM Group was flat at 52.5 sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index shed 98.51 points to 11,573.16, the FBM Emas Syariah Index dipped 58.90 points to 12,387.26, and the FBM Ace contracted 27.24 points to 6,210.36.

The FBM 70 Index lost 17.96 points to 12,746.74 and the FBMT100 Index dropped 104.49 points to 11,258.26.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index slid 215.30 points at 14,187.31, the Industrial Index contracted 22.17 points to 3,327.51 and the Plantation Index fell 26.35 points to 7,540.82.

Main Market volume rose to 1.07 billion units worth RM2.07 billion from 1.06 billion units worth RM1.80 billion on Wednesday.

Turnover on the ACE Market narrowed to 696.54 million shares worth RM148.82 million from 744.13 million shares valued at RM202.76 million.

Warrants increased to 400.24 million units valued at RM60.93 million from 346.06 million units worth RM48.23 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 76.29 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (204.89 million), construction (52.95 million), trade and services (388.52 million), technology (76 million), infrastructure (27.26 million), SPAC (4.67 million), finance (62.36 million), hotels (2.67 million), properties (138.48 million), plantations (26.26 million), mining (5,000), REITs (89.15 million), and closed/fund (128,000). — Bernama