KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today on profit-taking in tandem with its regional peers, a retracement after closing above the 1,500 psychological barrier yesterday, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.24 points to 1,493.87 from Monday’s close of 1,501.11.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.72 of-a-point easier at 1,500.39 and moved between 1,492.40 and 1,503.73 during the trading session.

On the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 775 to 324, while 406 counters were unchanged, 712 untraded and 19 others suspended

Turnover increased to 5.84 billion units worth RM3.59 billion from 4.98 billion units worth RM3.13 billion on Monday.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the local bourse’s performance was in tandem with the regional market performance whereby most bourses were in the red.

“In a grand scheme of things, Bursa Malaysia has performed well with the FBM KLCI flirting around its psychological level of 1500 points.

“However, concern over China’s economy especially on its deflationary trend along with the timing of the US rate cuts will continue to hog the limelight. As such, intermittently we could be seeing profit-taking to come in as the FBM KLCI is building a strong base at around the 1,500-point level,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.79 per cent to 35,619.18, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 2.16 per cent to 15,865.92, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.49 per cent to 3,183.59, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 1.12 per cent to 2,497.59.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index added 0.27 per cent to 2,893.99.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed two sen to RM9.06, CIMB added one sen to RM6.01, Tenaga Nasional dipped four sen to RM10.46, and Petronas Chemicals fell seven sen to RM6.88, and Public Bank was flat at RM4.36.

Of the actives, Minetech eased two sen to 15.5 sen, Sarawak Consolidated tumbled 35.5 sen to 83.5 sen, Leform lost 22 sen to 27 sen, Malaysian Resources Corp shed 2.5 sen to 51 sen, and Insas Warrant eased 1.5 sen to 38 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 57.07 points lower at 11,143.64, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 46.33 points to 10,792.99, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 55.32 points to 11,258.41, the FBM ACE Index tumbled 183.03 points to 5,197.93, while the FBM 70 Index declined 40.77 points to 15,141.89.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 22.83 points to 16,670.59, the Plantation Index sank 24.95 points to 7,164.01, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.17 points to 176.50, the Property Index slipped 19.70 points to 896.24, while the Energy Index slid 7.84 points to 858.81.

The Main Market volume rose to 3.90 billion units valued at RM3.12 billion from 3.29 billion units valued at RM2.74 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 779.86 million units worth RM104.12 million from 846.81 million units worth RM104.46 million previously.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 1.15 billion shares valued at RM366.67 million versus 820.88 million shares valued at RM281.65 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 395.51 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.24 billion); construction (281.33 million); technology (276.85 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (207.07 million); property (666.53 million); plantation (20.82 million); REITs (15.40 million), closed/fund (280,500); energy (226.62 million); healthcare (138.70 million); telecommunications and media (52.27 million); transportation and logistics (164.18 million); and utilities (217.50 million). — Bernama