KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — Profit-taking in the healthcare, Ace Market and energy indices dragged the Bursa Malaysia lower at close today, following the gains secured by the local bourse yesterday when it rebounded 1.1 per cent and hovered in the positive region for the entire trading session.

At close today, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased the gains, declining 22.14 points or 1.44 per cent to 1,515.40 from 1,537.54 recorded at yesterday’s close.

Losers greatly surpassed gainers 874 to 315, while 376 counters were unchanged, 461 untraded and 25 others suspended.

However, total volume slipped to 9.4 billion shares valued at RM5.42 billion versus 11.59 billion shares valued at RM5.35 billion yesterday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the decline in the barometer index came as the rubber glove (healthcare) counters namely Hartalega and Top Glove dropped the most among index members after losing -9.8 per cent and -3.7 per cent respectively.

“This came about following recent sectoral downgrades on the glove sector by some research houses.

“Moreover, there has been a lot of corporate news on companies wanting to venture into the glove sector which may pose threats to the average selling price of existing glove makers,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Financial Group was the biggest winner, gaining 3.3 per cent for the day but not enough to bring the Bursa Finance Index into the green zone.

In addition, he said that the sell-off in these counters dragged the Bursa healthcare index down, making it the largest laggard among the sectors with a 4.7 per cent loss.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank eased four sen each to RM7.21 and RM16.10 respectively, Tenaga lost 20 sen to RM11.04 and IHH was seven sen lower at RM5.28.

Among top gainers, Hong Leong Financial increased 44 sen to RM13.78 and Batu Kawan and Vitrox added 32 sen each to RM15.38 and RM12.82.

Among the actives, Pegasus slipped one sen to three sen, Permaju rose 6.5 sen to 42 sen and Netx was flat at 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index erased 162.12 points to 11,012.24, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 158.17 points to 10,808.34, and the FBM 70 depreciated 214.91 points to 14,608.55.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 237.81 points to 13,059.49 and the FBM ACE slumped 414.36 points to 10,850.69.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 47.85 points to 12,647.66, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.64 points to 137.50 and the Plantation Index was 38.92 points weaker at 7,127.86.

Main Market volume decreased to 5.61 billion shares valued at RM4.36 billion from 6.58 billion shares worth RM4.08 billion.

Warrants turnover widened to 677.89 million units worth RM214.84 million versus 451.28 million units valued at RM119.72 million.

Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 3.11 billion shares worth RM846.11 million from 4.55 billion shares worth RM1.18 billion.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.32 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.36 billion), construction (327.99 million), technology (545.34 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (47.29 million), property (717.46 million), plantations (148.11 million), REITs (3.60 million), closed/fund (19,000), energy (722.63 million), healthcare (176.65 million), telecommunications and media (122.11 million), transportation and logistics (86.05 million), and utilities (24.62 million). — Bernama