KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Bursa Malaysia finished lower today following the slide in crude oil prices and amid jitters over the United Kingdom’s referendum on its potential exit (Brexit) from the European Union on June 23.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.45 points or 0.7 per cent to 1,629.77, after fluctuating between 1,622.88 and 1,634.59 throughout the day. The key index opened 6.63 points lower at 1,634.59.

Brent crude oil futures fell below US$50 per barrel today on heightened economic concerns ahead of central banks meeting this week, including the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on June 14-15.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said the potential Brexit might affect the local market in terms of foreign funds movement, if it materialised.

“Jitters might cause funds to continue to flow out. It is already flowing out and this (Brexit) might aggravate the situation,” he told Bernama. Pong added that the FOMC meeting was not a major worry but stressed that the market could not discount the possibility of a surprise interest rates hike during the meeting.

“I don’t think the odds are very high that there will be a rate hike. The markets were going up in the past week as the US Federal Reserve was making statements that they are not ready to raise rates.

“The present fundamental doesn’t seem to justify raising rates at this point although they might raise rate in the future but it seems a long way off because they are not going to risk the downturn in the markets,” he added.

On the local market, losers thumped gainers 643 to 203 with 294 counters unchanged, 563 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 1.48 billion units worth RM1.21 billion from last Friday’s 1.84 billion units worth RM1.38 billion.

The weaker domestic market was also in tandem with its regional peers.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 3.51 per cent to 16,019.18 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Composite Index shed 2.52 per cent to 20,512.99 and Singapore’s Straits Times slid 1.42 per cent to 2,783.02.

Of the heavyweights, TNB and Public Bank were flat at RM13.98 and RM19.04 respectively while Maybank and IHH Healthcare both declined four sen to RM8.16 and RM6.36.

Petronas Chemicals eased seven sen to RM6.47 and Axiata lost 10 sen to RM5.50.

Among actives, Borneo Oil edged up half-a-sen to 15.5 sen, AirAsia added two sen to RM2.67 while Trive Property, Netx Holdings and China Automobile Parts all inched down half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, 3.5 sen and four sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index lost 85.43 points to 11,415.14, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 80.84 points to 11,111.21 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was down 85.17 points to 11,971.54.

The FBM 70 slid 104.34 points to 12,958.97 and the FBM Ace was 76.06 points lower at 5,436.44.

The Finance Index declined 89.01 points to 14,102.09, the Plantation Index decreased 18.52 points to 7,558.77 and the Industrial Index was 12.16 points lower at 3,070.06.

Main Market turnover decreased to 883.20 million shares worth RM1.12 billion from 1.20 billion shares worth RM1.27 billion last Friday.

The ACE Market volume fell to 391.81 million shares worth RM65.35 million from 436.83 million shares worth RM77.36 million.

Warrants declined to 208.03 million shares worth RM28.85 million from 210.15 million shares worth RM32.00 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 63.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (192.09 million), construction (33.19 million), trade and services (352.29 million), technology (118.68 million), infrastructure (7.86 million), SPAC (9.08 million), finance (30.94 million), hotels (702,100), properties (48.68 million), plantations (20.38 million), mining (nil), REITs (5.96 million) and closed/fund (5,900). — Bernama