KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended lower today in line with regional bourses after the drop in crude oil prices.

At 5pm, the index stood at 1,669.24, down 2.76 points after hitting an intra-day high of 1,672.04.

A dealer said Asian stocks closed in the red hitting a three-week low today as oil prices declined on persistent concerns over a glut in supply owing to the failure of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reach an agreement to reduce production levels.

Investors were also concerned about the true growth conditions in China and the reduced demand from the country, the world’s biggest energy consumer, as the latest data show China’s imports fell for the 13th consecutive month, he added.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped 205.55 points or 1.04 per cent to 19,492.60, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 66.86 points to 3,470.07 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index trimmed 23.27 points to 2,877.65.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank lost 2 sen to RM18.32 while Maybank, TNB, Petronas Chemicals and Axiata were all flat at RM8.41, RM13.46, RM6.72 and RM6.09 respectively.

Among actives, Instacom added 2.5 sen to 30.5 sen, XOX lost 0.5 sen to 20 sen, Genetec shed 1 sen to 29.5 sen and 1 Utopia was traded flat at 4.5 sen.

Market breadth was in negative territory as decliners edged gainers 423 to 393, while 344 counters were unchanged, 602 untraded and 33 others suspended.

Total volume fell to 1.78 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion from yesterday’s 1.79 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion.

The FBM Emas Index fell 16.87 points to 11,639.02, the FBMT100 Index slipped 18.53 points to 11,318.55, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 24.15 points to 12,549.39 and the FBM 70 shed 20.39 points to 12,980.79. The FBM Ace added 40.99 points to 6,464.06.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 17.96 points lower at 3,260.20, the Plantation Index slid 1.14 points to 7,457.31 while the Finance Index gained 2.10 points to 14,151.99.

Main Market volume fell to 992.98 million units worth RM1.52 billion from 1.08 billion units worth RM1.60 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market advanced to 633.78 million shares valued at RM134.37 million from yesterday’s 609.06 million shares valued at RM123.61 million.

Warrants rose to 150 million units worth RM24.92 million from 103.16 million units worth RM13.47 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 123.68 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (255.36 million), construction (50 million), trade and services (357.86 million), technology (60.46 million), infrastructure (9.70 million), SPAC (3.46 million), finance (33.62 million), hotels (941,800), properties (79.53 million), plantations (12.27 million), mining (200), REITs (6.09 million) and closed/fund (5,000). — Bernama