KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today in line with regional markets, as losses in selected heavyweights continued to weigh on the local index.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 6.93 points to an intraday low of 1,588.88 from Friday’s close of 1,595.81.

The local index opened 0.58 of-a-point higher at 1,596.39.

The overall market breadth on Bursa Malaysia was bearish with losers outpacing gainers 449 to 408, while 377 counters remained unchanged, 733 were untraded and 24 others were suspended.

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Turnover decreased to 2.53 billion shares worth RM1.78 billion from 2.84 billion shares worth RM2.56 billion recorded last Friday.

On the regional front, Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.69 per cent to 6,247.94, Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.11 per cent to 3,277.29 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.9 per cent lower at 28,795.91.

OANDA senior market analyst for Asia Pacific, Jeffrey Halley said in the United States, Wall Street had set another new record at its closing last Friday, with the S&P 500 up by 0.39 per cent, the Nasdaq rising 0.24 per cent and the Dow Jones increasing 0.17 per cent.

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However, he said Asia has not fully embraced Wall Street’s Friday rally, with Asian stock markets showing a mixed performance.

“With the United States on holiday today for Martin Luther King Day and Chinese New Year upon us this weekend, we expect volumes to be below average in Asia this week,” he said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank fell two sen to RM8.60, Public Bank declined 12 sen to RM19.48, Tenaga added four sen to RM12.94 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.03.

Of the actives, Vortex eased half-a-sen to 10 sen, Xidelang added two sen to 16 sen and Alam Maritim gained half-a-sen to 51.5 sen.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index was 29.43 points lower at 11,334.11, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 19.52 points to 11,999.69 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 31.65 points to 11,121.08.

The FBM 70 bagged 28.62 points to 14,238.51 and the FBM ACE added 91.59 points to 5,656.71.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.06 point to 153.82, the Financial Services Index decreased 64.57 points to 15,353.67 and the Plantation Index fell 45.83 points to 7,489.60.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.69 billion shares worth RM1.58 billion from 1.91 billion shares worth RM2.03 billion recorded last Friday.

Warrants turnover fell to 278.72 million units worth RM46.90 million from 314.94 million units worth RM61.07 million last week.

Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 555.20 million shares worth RM153.93 million from 617.59 million shares worth RM171.03 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 371.13 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (241.62 million), construction (163.42 million), technology (134.39 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (24.71 million), property (128.40 million), plantations (76.95 million), REITs (16.64 million), closed/fund (70,000), energy (413.28 million), healthcare (25.94 million), telecommunications and media (23.46 million), transportation and logistics (53.51 million) and utilities (24.91 million). — Bernama