KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week in the red, succumbing to selling pressure in heavyweight counters led by the financial services sector, amid the ongoing consolidation after the recent rally, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 21.86 points or 1.31 per cent lower at 1,652.49 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,674.35.

It opened 2.49 points better at 1,676.84 and moved between 1,644.80 and 1,678.11 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 864 to 378, while 454 counters were unchanged, 471 untraded and 47 others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 8.06 billion shares worth RM4.39 billion from 9.24 billion shares valued at RM4.33 billion on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Asian peers were also mostly lower failing to track the upbeat performance on US stocks which closed at fresh records, on the back of optimism on the seemingly imminent US$900 billion (RM3.6 trillion) stimulus package.

Asian bourses adopted a cautious tone as sentiments swung between optimism due to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and the ensuing global economic recovery, and concerns about rising infection rates.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange shed 0.29 per cent to 3,394.90, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.19 per cent to 2,852.56, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.16 per cent to 26,763.39, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.67 per cent to 26,498.60, while South Korea’s Kospi added 0.06 per cent to 2,772.18.

On the local front, a dealer said Bursa Malaysia opened slightly higher but retreated after five minutes of trading, and continued to trend lower on selling pressure on most index-linked counters.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said it was quite a chaotic day for the market as investors started to cash in some gains ahead of the upcoming year-end festive season, with some traders perceiving that the current levels of the FBM KLCI is ripe for profit-taking.

“Major laggards among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents were mainly banking counters such as Public Bank and CIMB which declined more than 2.0 per cent during the day, together with plantation counters such as Kuala Lumpur Kepong which dropped 3.6 per cent.

“The Financial Services Index was of the biggest losers among the sectors, declining by 2.3 per cent,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank slipped 24 sen to RM8.46, Public Bank fell 86 sen to RM20.64, Tenaga eased two sen to RM10.78, Top Glove shed six sen to RM6.64 while Petronas Chemicals perked up two sen to RM7.58.

Of the actives, VSolar, Techna-X and MNC Wireless all edged up half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen, 19 sen and 5.5 sen respectively, while Focus Dynamics warrant and Hiap Teck Venture were flat at 3.5 sen and 44 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 141.22 points lower at 11,890.49, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 144.15 points to 11,650.05, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 83.81 points to 13,334.47, the FBM 70 dropped 149.24 points to 15,218.60, and the FBM ACE lost 155.61 points to 10,447.65.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.05 of-a-point to 175.69, the Plantation Index slid 79.58 points to 7,349.80, while the Financial Services Index tumbled 301.21 points to 15,425.00.

The Main Market volume shrank to 4.87 billion shares worth RM3.77 billion from 5.95 billion shares worth RM3.59 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover expanded to 833.16 million units worth RM125.05 million from 700.92 million units valued at RM118.83 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 2.35 billion shares worth RM493.83 million from 2.59 billion shares worth RM622.36 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services accounted for 588.64 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.57 billion), construction (518.72 million), technology (250.86 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (119.62 million), property (480.45 million), plantations (80.0 million), REITs (17.42 million), closed/fund (55,900), energy (843.93 million), healthcare (77.23 million), telecommunications and media (85.44 million), transportation and logistics (94.10 million), and utilities (142.66 million). — Bernama