KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 ― Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower today on mild profit taking in selected heavyweights, despite the mostly higher Asian bourses, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,670.93, down 1.53 points from Monday's close of 1,672.46, after opening 1.10 points higher at 1,673.56.

The benchmark index moved between 1,670.88 and 1,673.90 throughout the day.          

Among heavyweights, Maybank shed four sen to RM7.86, Petronas Chemicals eased two sen to RM6.98 and Sime Darby fell 13 sen to RM8.06.

However, TNB rose six sen to RM14.40 and Public Bank gained 14 sen to RM20.                

AirAsia X emerged as the most actively traded stock after announcing higher-than-expected operating statistics for the second quarter of 2016 yesterday, with load at 78 per cent as compared to 75.3 per cent in the same quarter last year.

At close, the counter rose 1.5 sen to 43.5 sen with 41.61 million shares changing hands.

As for other actives, XOX eased half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, while Kinsteel and Nexgram were flat at three sen and 4.5 sen respectively.

A dealer said regional sentiment was mostly positive as the increase in oil prices and better Chinese manufacturing data brought some optimism among investors.

Oil prices rose from one-month lows after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on a long-term strategy of cutting production, while China's manufacturing activity grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in October.

However, he said, investors remained cautious ahead of next week's US presidential election.

“The market is also watching the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting beginning on Tuesday, as investors look for clues on a December rate hike,” he said.

On the broader market, losers overwhelmed gainers 432 to 332 with 363 counters unchanged, 521 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Volume was lower at 1.31 billion units worth RM1.67 billion from 1.45 billion units worth RM1.89 billion yesterday.

The FBM Emas Index declined 19.65 points to 11,765.82, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 22.11 points to 11,468.33 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 11.44 points to 12,372.57.

The FBM 70 declined 68.23 points to 13,656.33 but the FBM Ace rose 11.70 points to 5,033.68.

The Finance Index shed 46.96 points to 14,534.85, the Plantation Index slipped 57.14 points to 7,852.64 and the Industrial Index fell 22.95 points to 3,149.75.

Main Market turnover narrowed to 884.22 million units worth RM1.60 billion, from 949.36 million units worth RM1.81 billion yesterday.

The ACE Market volume fell to 199.47 million shares valued at RM28.54 million, from 217.22 million shares valued at RM30.05 million.

Warrants slipped to 218.06 million units worth RM41.55 million, from 285.64 million units worth RM46.20 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 76.33 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (213.95 million), construction (66.61 million), trade and services (373.06 million), technology (23.91 million), infrastructure (6.55 million), SPAC (11.79 million), finance (37.65 million), hotels (185,000), properties (31.25 million), plantations (25.55 million), mining (20,000), REITs (17.36 million) and closed/fund (9,000). ― Bernama