KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Bursa Malaysia, which remained in negative territory the whole day, ended easier tracking the bearish performance of regional bourses.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 3.51 points lower at 1,717.96 from yesterday’s close of 1,721.47.

After opening 1.81 points weaker at 1,719.66, the benchmark index fluctuated between 1,715.18 and 1,720.08 throughout the day.

Market breadth was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 396 to 378 with 387 counters unchanged, 562 counters untraded and eight others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 1.63 billion shares worth RM1.65 billion from 1.99 billion shares worth RM1.95 billion recorded yesterday.

A dealer said buying sentiment in regional bourses, including Bursa Malaysia, was dampened as traders took cues from the overnight decline on Wall Street, which suffered its first loss in four sessions.

Most heavyweights were lower, with Petronas Chemicals and Axiata slipping three sen each to RM6.70 and RM5.85, respectively, and Sime Darby was down four sen to RM7.93.

Other heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and IHH added four sen each to RM9.05, RM19.14 and RM6.72, respectively.

Among active stocks, AirAsia X shed 1.5 sen to 36.5 sen, Sumatec lost one sen to 12 sen and Vivocom was unchanged at 31.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index fell 31.5 points to 11,938.49, the FBMT100 Index decreased 33.78 points to 11,627.98 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 35.38 points to 12,487.75.

The FBM 70 was 74.42 points lower at 13,261.33 while the FBM Ace added 26.75 points to 5,745.6.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index eased 4.77 points to 14,908.65, the Industrial Index slipped 9.27 points to 3,270.95 and the Plantation Index declined 11.05 points to 7,750.86.

Main Market turnover fell to 1.21 billion units worth RM1.57 billion from 1.47 billion units worth RM1.87 billion recorded yesterday.

The ACE Market turnover increased to 278.62 million shares valued at RM57.41 million from 250.2 million shares valued at RM49.38 million previously.

Warrants fell to 144.0 million units worth RM18.51 million from 263.12 million units worth RM28.8 million today.

Consumer products accounted for 134.59 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (209.27 million), construction (54.16 million), trade and services (506.07 million), technology (19.39 million), infrastructure (3.71 million), SPAC (114.99 million), finance (40.84  million), hotels (1.41 million), properties (108.94 million), plantations (14.48 million), mining (9,000), REITs (7.93 million), and closed/fund (8,000). — Bernama