KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed lower today, dragged down by losses in most heavyweights, as the market turned cautious over US monetary policy.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,687.68, down 7.19 points against yesterday’s close of 1,694.87 points.

It opened 1.65 points easier at 1,693.22 at 9 am, and hovered between 1,686.44 and 1,694.88 throughout the day.

Losers outpaced gainers by 523 to 319, while 383 counters were unchanged, 464 untraded and 16 others suspended.

Volume declined to 2.2 billion units worth RM1.7 billion from 2.85 billion units worth RM1.99 billion yesterday.

A dealer said selling pressure intensified in the local market after US Federal Reserve officials reiterated their views on the need for an interest rate hike in September.

“Federal Reserve officials showed support for a rate hike soon as waiting too long could see the economy overheat.

“A rate hike, in turn, is bad for emerging markets as investors will shift their funds into US dollar-denominated assets,” he added.

Among the top gainers were Kuala Lumpur Kepong, up 28 sen to RM23.64, Apex Healthcare increasing 26 sen to RM4.26 and Petron Malaysia rising 14 sen to RM4.38.

Top losers were Dutch Lady, down RM1.44 to RM60.78, United Plantation which declined 50 sen to RM27 as United U-Li fell 40 sen to RM4.

Of the heavyweights, TNB and Maybank were flat at RM14.80 and RM8 respectively, Public Bank eased six sen to RM19.82 and IHH was one sen lower at RM6.67.

Among actives, M3 Technologies was 1.5 sen lower at 13.5 sen, Borneo Oil shed half-a-sen to 18.5 sen and AirAsia X lost one sen to 46.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index inched down 51.18 points to 11,851.58, the FBMT100 Index fell 47.35 points to 11,554.9 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 53.98 points better at 12,496.18.

The FBM 70 decreased 49 points to 13,656.23 and the FBM Ace lost 50.11 points to 5,574.57.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 51 points weaker at 14,482.5 as the Industrial Index fell 13.66 points to 3,175.12. But, the Plantation Index gained 57.61 points to 7,862.06.

Main Market turnover fell to 1.14 billion shares worth RM1.52 billion from 1.53 billion shares worth RM1.78 billion yesterday.

The ACE Market volume declined to 398.57 million units valued at RM77.14 million from 500.96 million units valued at RM106.28 million.

Warrants werelower at 658.54 million shares worth RM101.94 million from 815.78 million shares worth RM102.46 million.

Consumer products accounted for 48.87 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (219.13 million), construction (62.7 million), trade and services (513.75 million), technology (114.85 million), infrastructure (5.38 million), SPAC (13.59 million), finance (42.78 million), hotels (180,600), properties (49.71 million), plantations (54.96 million), mining (5,000), REITs (17.16 million) and closed/fund (60,000). — Bernama