KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 ― Bursa Malaysia continued its downtrend to finish 0.37 per cent lower today on persistent mild profit-taking in selected key index-linked counters led by Maxis, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 6.05 points lower at 1,617.15 points against Thursday’s close of 1,623.20, after moving between 1,616.54 and 1,623.93 throughout the day.

The key index opened 1.10 points lower at 1,622.09.

Losers edged gainers 443 to 249 with 364 counters unchanged, 701 untraded and 25 suspended.

Volume decreased to 972.54 million shares worth RM1.10 billion from 1.05 billion shares valued at RM1.19 billion on Thursday.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said most trade and services as well as banking stocks went lower, as most fund managers have gone for the year-end holidays, leaving the market in a quiet tone.

“On the external front, some investors remained on the sidelines following prospects of higher interest rates next year by the US Federal Reserve.

“Besides that, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average which pulled back from almost reaching the 20,000 mark, also dragged down sentiment in most Asian regional markets amid thin volume ahead of the holiday season,” Nazri Khan told Bernama.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng went down 0.28 per cent to 22,574.76, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.01 per cent to 2,035.90 and Singapore’s Straits Times declined 0.22 per cent to 2,875.82.

The Japanese markets were closed today for the Emperor’s birthday.          

Among heavyweights, Maybank shed two sen to RM7.74, TNB lost eight sen to RM13.66, Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM6.90 while Public Bank was flat at RM19.68.

Of the actives, Borneo Oil added 1.5 sen to 18 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum and Trive Property were flat at 36.5 sen and nine sen respectively while MQ Technology fell half-a-sen to five sen.

Of the losers, British American Tobacco shed 50 sen to RM42.50, Heineken Malaysia slipped 38 sen to RM16.60, Malaysia Pacific Industries dipped 29 sen to RM7.48 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 20 sen to RM23.54.

The FBM Emas Index reduced 48.72 points to 11,316.30, the FBMT 100 Index lost 50.04 points to 11,037.21 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 59.25 points to 11,891.57.

The FBM 70 contracted 92.03 points to 12,918.16 but the FBM Ace rose 20.72 points to 4,758.62.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index decreased 35.16 points to 14,160.85, the Plantation Index slid 50.23 points to 7,666.84 and the Industrial Index fell 12.63 points to 3,062.75.

Main Market turnover dropped to 624.21 million units worth RM1.05 billion from 709.73 million units valued at RM1.13 billion recorded on Thursday.

The ACE Market volume decreased to 159.07 million shares worth RM20.44 million from 177.07 million shares valued at RM23.94 million previously.

Warrants narrowed to 188.15 million units worth RM29.19 million from 166.58 million units valued at RM35.14 million yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 39.83 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (125.79 million), construction (55.63 million), trade and services (276.50 million), technology (37.88 million), infrastructure (5.29 million), SPAC (111,000), finance (28,76 million), hotels (222,000), properties (26.50 million), plantations (20.11 million), mining (43,800), REITs (7.32 million) and closed/fund (178,500). ― Bernama