KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Bursa Malaysia reversed its winning streak to finish easier today, taking the cues from Wall Street’s overnight close, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 12.62 points to close at 1,643.90.

A dealer said the global market remained uncertain after crude oil prices continued to weaken.

It was reported that crude oil went down 57 US cents, or 1.6 per cent, to US$34.95 a barrel, just after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) raised its interest rates, which was supposed to signify a more confident economy worldwide.

“The further drop in the oil prices has resulted in the decline in most of the energy and materials shares in the emerging countries, including on our bourse,” said the dealer.

Affin Hwang Capital, in its note, said Asian bourses, including Bursa Malaysia, followed the weaker US stock market, which fell as investors moved past the Fed’s interest rate increases and returned their focus on weakness in commodities and prospects for global growth.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5 per cent to 2,041.89 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 253.25 points or 1.4 per cent to 17,495.84, it said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell 13 sen to RM8.28, Public Bank declined 2 sen to RM18.32 while both Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM13 and RM7.

Among actives, Instacom rose 0.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Comintel gained 27 sen to 64 sen and Asia Media was lifted by 2 sen to 14.5 sen.

Market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced advancers by 498 to 335 while 342 counters were unchanged, 579 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 1.74 billion shares worth RM2.16 billion from 1.95 billion shares worth RM2.52 billion yesterday.

The FBM Emas Index fell 97.46 points to 11,484.42, FBMT100 Index eased 99.48 points to 11,158.24 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 96.91 points to 12,391.05. The FBM 70 fell by 165.22 points to 12,839.07 and the FBM Ace was 32.07 points lower at 6,333.87.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index eased 23.66 points to 3,194.79, Plantation Index fell 53.47 points to 7,413.99 and the Finance Index was 133.02 points lower to 14,039.46.

Main Market volume fell to 1.08 billion units worth RM2 billion from 1.21 billion units worth RM2.1 billion yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 375.79 million shares valued RM95.16 million versus 466.65 million shares valued at RM112.22 million yesterday.

Warrants rose to 290.97 million units worth RM56.56 million against 274.90 million units worth RM47 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 87.80 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (321.26 million), construction (35.08 million), trade and services (411.86 million), technology (26.76 million), infrastructure (14.04 million), SPAC (38.19 million), finance (35.61 million), hotels

(514,800), properties (75.96 million), plantations (23.54 million), mining (44,300), REITs (5.68 million) and closed/fund (2,000). — Bernama