KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia finished on a weaker note today amid unfavourable external developments including ongoing concerns over a slowdown in China and weak commodity prices.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled at 1,641.37, up marginally by 3.78 points, compared with yesterday’s close of 1,637.59.

The index fluctuated between 1,636.93 and 1,648.43 throughout the day.

Market tone was weak with losers outpacing gainers 470 to 384 while 390 counters were unchanged, 477 untraded and 11 others were suspended.

Total volume eased to 1.8 billion shares worth RM2.11 billion from 1.91 billion shares worth RM1.95 billion.

Kenanga Research said the FBM KLCI remained in the red as economic uncertainty arising from China swept investors off their seats.

“Furthermore, the continuous plunge in crude oil prices and weak ringgit have also rubbed salt into the bleeding wound,” it said in a note today.

A dealer said the near-term outlook for the oil market remained bleak as it was expected to remain at the US$30 per barrel level given the oversupply situation.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank remained flat at RM8.32, TNB added 2.0 sen to RM13.02, Public Bank rose 4.0 sen to RM18.20 and Petronas Chemicals added 15 sen to RM7.35.

As for active counters, Instacom was unchanged at 28 sen, Tiger Synergy lost 0.5 sen to 8.5 sen and KTC Consolidated inched up 0.5 sen to 45 sen.

Among top losers, United Plantations fell 40 sen to RM25.38, followed by PIE Industrial down 36 sen to RM10.14 and Bintulu Port 32 sen to RM6.82.

The top three gainers were British American Tobacco, which rose RM1 to RM55.90, Shell 93 sen to RM6.03 and Lay Hong 51 sen to RM7.26.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 16.08 points to 11,510.73, the FBMT100 Index gained 15.6 points to 11,177.11 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 16.64 points better at 12,492.06.

The FBM 70 declined 18.37 points to 12,990.16 and the FBM Ace added 0.32 of a point to 6,231.31.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index improved 21.06 points to 3,192.6, the Finance Index rose 20.37 points to 13,791.03 and the Plantation Index fell 14.48 points to 7,550.4.

Main Market volume rose to 1.85 billion units worth RM1.96 billion, from 1.27 billion units worth RM1.8 billion recorded yesterday.

Turnover on the ACE Market was higher at 345.06 million shares valued at RM90.13 million, against 265.3 million shares valued at RM67.34 million yesterday.

Warrants slipped to 270.4 million units worth RM58.78 million from 367.82 million units worth RM73.07 million traded yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 175.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (266.07 million), construction (68.36 million), trade and services (383.75 million), technology (35.88 million), infrastructure (11.06 million), SPAC (26.97 million), finance (42.47 million), hotels (1.04 million), properties (143 million), plantations (21.53 million), mining (8,000), REITs (9.42 million) and closed/fund (183,600). — Bernama